IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sss/wpaper/2015-03.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Capitalising on the Irish Land Question:Land Reform and State Banking in Ireland, 1891-1938

Author

Listed:
  • Nathan Foley-Fisher

    (Research and Statistics Division, Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C., USA)

  • Eoin McLaughlin

    (Department of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St. Andrews)

Abstract

Land reform and its financial arrangements are central elements of modern Irish history. Yet to date, the financial mechanisms underpinning Irish land reform have been overlooked. The paper outlines the mechanisms of land reform in Ireland and the importance of land bonds to the process. The paper introduces a new database on Irish land bonds listed on the Dublin Stock Exchange from 1891 to 1938. It illustrates the nature of these b onds and presents data on their size, liquidity and market returns. The paper finds a high level of state banking in Ireland: large issues of land bonds were held by state owned savings banks.

Suggested Citation

  • Nathan Foley-Fisher & Eoin McLaughlin, 2015. "Capitalising on the Irish Land Question:Land Reform and State Banking in Ireland, 1891-1938," Discussion Papers in Environment and Development Economics 2015-03, University of St. Andrews, School of Geography and Sustainable Development.
    • Handle: RePEc:sss:wpaper:2015-03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/media/dept-of-geography-and-sustainable-development/pdf-s/DP%202015%2003%20Foley-Fisher%20&%20McLaughlin.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dietrich Vollrath, 2007. "Land Distribution and International Agricultural Productivity," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(1), pages 202-216.
    2. Klaus Deininger, 2003. "Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15125, December.
    3. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1998. "New ways of looking at old issues: inequality and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 259-287.
    4. K. Deininger & S. Jin & H. K. Nagarajan, 2009. "Land Reforms, Poverty Reduction, and Economic Growth: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 496-521.
    5. Michael Bordo & Michael Edelstein, 1999. "Was Adherence to the Gold Standard a "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" During the Interwar Period?," NBER Working Papers 7186, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Hickson, Charles R. & Turner, John D., 2008. "Pre- and post-famine indices of Irish equity prices," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 3-38, April.
    7. Timothy Besley & Robin Burgess, 2000. "Land Reform, Poverty Reduction, and Growth: Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 389-430.
    8. Oded Galor & Omer Moav & Dietrich Vollrath, 2009. "Inequality in Landownership, the Emergence of Human-Capital Promoting Institutions, and the Great Divergence," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(1), pages 143-179.
    9. Binswanger, Hans P. & Deininger, Klaus & Feder, Gershon, 1995. "Power, distortions, revolt and reform in agricultural land relations," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 42, pages 2659-2772, Elsevier.
    10. Jeon, Yoong-Deok & Kim, Young-Yong, 2000. "Land Reform, Income Redistribution, and Agricultural Production in Korea," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(2), pages 253-268, January.
    11. Brown, Stephen J. & Warner, Jerold B., 1985. "Using daily stock returns : The case of event studies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 3-31, March.
    12. Turner,Michael, 1996. "After the Famine," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521553889, November.
    13. Christopher L. Colvin & Eoin McLaughlin, 2014. "Raiffeisenism abroad: why did German cooperative banking fail in Ireland but prosper in the Netherlands?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(2), pages 492-516, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Foley-Fisher, Nathan & McLaughlin, Eoin, 2016. "Sovereign debt guarantees and default: Lessons from the UK and Ireland, 1920–1938," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 272-286.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vollrath, Dietrich, 2008. "Agrarian Structure and Endogenous Financial System Development," MPRA Paper 12430, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Deininger, Klaus & Yadav, Vandana, 2011. "Long-term Effects of Land Reform on Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from West Bengal," WIDER Working Paper Series 082, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. McLaughlin, Eoin & Foley-Fisher, Nathan, 2013. "Irish Land Bonds: 1891-1938," SIRE Discussion Papers 2013-109, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    4. K. Deininger & S. Jin & H. K. Nagarajan, 2009. "Land Reforms, Poverty Reduction, and Economic Growth: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 496-521.
    5. Klaus W. Deininger & Songqing Jin & Vandana Yadav, 2011. "Long-term Effects of Land Reform on Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from West Bengal," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2011-082, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Mr. Dietrich Vollrath & Mr. Lennart Erickson, 2007. "Land Distribution and Financial System Development," IMF Working Papers 2007/083, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Falkinger, Josef & Grossmann, Volker, 2013. "Oligarchic land ownership, entrepreneurship, and economic development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 206-215.
    8. Bhattacharya, Prasad S. & Mitra, Devashish & Ulubaşoğlu, Mehmet A., 2019. "The political economy of land reform enactments: New cross-national evidence (1900–2010)," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 50-68.
    9. Mendola, Mariapia & Simtowe, Franklin, 2015. "The Welfare Impact of Land Redistribution: Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Initiative in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 53-69.
    10. Tasso Adamopoulos & Diego Restuccia, 2014. "The Size Distribution of Farms and International Productivity Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(6), pages 1667-1697, June.
    11. Jean-Paul Faguet & Fabio Sánchez & Marta-Juanita Villaveces, 2015. "Land Reform, Latifundia and Social Development at Local Level in Colombia, 1961-2010," Documentos CEDE 12569, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    12. Yeboah, F. Kwame & Jayne, T.S., 2016. "Africa’s Evolving Employment Structure," Food Security International Development Working Papers 246956, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    13. Guilherme Berse Rodrigues Lambais & Marcelo Marques De Magalhães & José Maria Ferreira Jardim Da Silveira, 2014. "Land Reform And Technical Efficiency: Panel Data Evidence From Northeastern Brazil," Anais do XL Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 40th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 200, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    14. Ray, Subhash C. & Ghose, Arpita, 2014. "Production efficiency in Indian agriculture: An assessment of the post green revolution years," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 58-69.
    15. World Bank, 2007. "India - Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction," World Bank Publications - Reports 7818, The World Bank Group.
    16. Bequet, Ludovic, 2021. "Agricultural productivity and land inequality. Evidence from the Philippines," MPRA Paper 108131, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing & Yadav, Vandana, 2012. "Does sharecropping affect productivity and long-term investment ? evidence from West Bengal's tenancy reforms," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6293, The World Bank.
    18. Deininger, Klaus W. & Jin, Songqing & Yadav, Vandana, 2008. "Impact of Land Reform on Productivity, Land Value and Human Capital Investment: Household Level Evidence from West Bengal," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6277, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    19. Klaus Deininger & Denys Nizalov & Sudhir K Singh, 2013. "Are mega-farms the future of global agriculture? Exploring the farm size-productivity relationship for large commercial farms in Ukraine," Discussion Papers 49, Kyiv School of Economics.
    20. Gersbach, Hans & Siemers, Lars-H. R., 2010. "Land Reforms And Economic Development," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 527-547, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Irish financial history; land reform; land bonds; Dublin Stock Exchange.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N24 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N53 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N54 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: 1913-
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sss:wpaper:2015-03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Laure Kuhfuss (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eestauk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.