TY - JOUR
T1 - Rural depopulation in a small open economy
T2 - Ireland 1856-1876
AU - O'Rourke, Kevin
PY - 1991/10
Y1 - 1991/10
N2 - The paper asks whether Irish emigration between 1856 and 1876 was due to labor being pulled out of Ireland by higher wages abroad, or to labor being pushed off the land as a result of price shocks in international commodity markets favoring pasture over tillage. A computational general equilibrium model of the Irish agricultural sector is constructed and subjected to the wage and price shocks experienced by the economy over the period. The model suggests that all the rural depopulation occurring during this period was due to wage shocks (i.e., foreign labor demand), and none to commodity price shocks.
AB - The paper asks whether Irish emigration between 1856 and 1876 was due to labor being pulled out of Ireland by higher wages abroad, or to labor being pushed off the land as a result of price shocks in international commodity markets favoring pasture over tillage. A computational general equilibrium model of the Irish agricultural sector is constructed and subjected to the wage and price shocks experienced by the economy over the period. The model suggests that all the rural depopulation occurring during this period was due to wage shocks (i.e., foreign labor demand), and none to commodity price shocks.
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U2 - 10.1016/0014-4983(91)90002-Z
DO - 10.1016/0014-4983(91)90002-Z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0026363711
VL - 28
SP - 409
EP - 432
JO - Explorations in Economic History
JF - Explorations in Economic History
SN - 0014-4983
IS - 4
ER -