Irish economic policy and economic crisis, 1973-79

Abstract

This thesis examines Irish economic policy in the period between the two oil shocks of the 1970s, 1973/74 and 1979/80 (hereafter the ‘inter-oil shock period’). Seeking to counter prevailing narratives of Ireland’s relapse from sustained growth during the 1960s to the endemic unemployment and renewal of mass emigration during the 1980s, this study seeks to place the Irish economy’s development in that interim period in the context of fundamental changes in the international economy: from unprecedented international growth and full employment across Western economies, which lasted from the early 1950s to approximately 1973, to the impact of the First Oil Shock in 1973/74, which slowed world growth, and raised inflation, unemployment and balance of payments deficits. With the exhaustion of expansionary policies into heightened inflation, this saw the emergence of a more cautious and competitive world economy as major economies prioritised counter-inflationary policy.