Migration as disaster relief: lessons from the Great Irish Famine

Cormac Ó Gráda and Kevin O'Rourke

Open Access publications from School of Economics, University College Dublin

Abstract: Mass emigration was one key feature of the Great Irish Famine which distinguishes it from today's famines. By bringing famine victims to overseas food supplies, it undoubtedly saved many lives. Poverty traps prevented those most in need from availing of this form of relief, however. Cross-county data show that the ratio of emigration to deaths was higher in richer than in poorer counties. Another key feature of the Famine emigration was that it was irreversible. The Famine thus had a permanent impact on Ireland's population and economy, whereas typically famines only reduce population in a transitory fashion. Famine emigration spurred post-Famine emigration by eliminating poverty traps; the result was a sustained decline in the Irish population, and a convergence of living standards both within Ireland and between Ireland and the rest of the world.

Keywords: Ireland--History--Famine, 1845-1852; Ireland--Emigration and immigration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 1997-04
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Published in: European Review of Economic History, 1(1) 1997-04

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10197/431 Open Access version, 1997 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Migration as disaster relief: Lessons from the Great Irish Famine (1997)
Working Paper: Migration as Disaster Relief: Lessons from the Great Irish Famine (1996)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucn:oapubs:10197/431

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Open Access publications from School of Economics, University College Dublin Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Nicolas Clifton ().