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Till Debt Do Us Part : Financial implications of the divorce of the Irish Free State from the United Kingdom, 1922–1926

FitzGerald, John and Kenny, Sean LU (2020) In European Review of Economic History 24(4). p.818-842
Abstract
In this paper, we discuss the apportionment of national debt when Ireland exited the UK in 1922. We estimate that the claim on Ireland amounted to 80 percent of Irish Gross National Product (G.N.P.) and describe how it was ultimately waived at the expense of an unchanged land border with Northern Ireland. While this represents the largest debt relief episode in the twentieth century, the political cost of the agreement exceeded the financial gain in the long run. We find that domestic markets reacted more to political uncertainty than the pending liability, despite the financial stability which resulted from the debt write-down.
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Political Economy, Ireland, United Kingdom, Debt Resolution, Border, Public Debt, Financial Agreement
in
European Review of Economic History
volume
24
issue
4
article number
heaa004
pages
25 pages
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85096345847
ISSN
1474-0044
DOI
10.1093/ereh/heaa004
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
57e3a329-e965-4080-b73b-69c5c8a91142
date added to LUP
2020-06-12 09:26:08
date last changed
2022-04-18 22:48:58
@article{57e3a329-e965-4080-b73b-69c5c8a91142,
  abstract     = {{In this paper, we discuss the apportionment of national debt when Ireland exited the UK in 1922. We estimate that the claim on Ireland amounted to 80 percent of Irish Gross National Product (G.N.P.) and describe how it was ultimately waived at the expense of an unchanged land border with Northern Ireland. While this represents the largest debt relief episode in the twentieth century, the political cost of the agreement exceeded the financial gain in the long run. We find that domestic markets reacted more to political uncertainty than the pending liability, despite the financial stability which resulted from the debt write-down.}},
  author       = {{FitzGerald, John and Kenny, Sean}},
  issn         = {{1474-0044}},
  keywords     = {{Political Economy; Ireland; United Kingdom; Debt Resolution; Border; Public Debt; Financial Agreement}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{818--842}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{European Review of Economic History}},
  title        = {{Till Debt Do Us Part : Financial implications of the divorce of the Irish Free State from the United Kingdom, 1922–1926}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heaa004}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/ereh/heaa004}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}