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Having critically examined the dominant approaches to the study of development now current in Irish geographical and historical research, the thesis outlines the need for a structurally based, historical analysis of uneven sectoral and regional development in Ireland from circa 1550 to 1750. This is achieved through examining the dialectical relationships between class, colonialism and development, involving an analysis of, in turn, land confiscation and colonisation policies, the creation of a new landed aristocracy, legislation against trade and manufacturing, and the overall retardation of development on the island. Uneven regional development is examined through contrasting the differing evolution of the North-east, where factory based industry eventually became firmly established and the remainder of the island, where agriculture remained predominant. Throughout the thesis the changing relations between internal class, and external colonial, aspects of development are highlighted.

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The Irish crash that began in 2008 has been described as one of the most dramatic economic reversals ever experienced by an industrialised country. There is a strong consensus about the economic roots of the crisis: the country experienced a classic asset bubble. Much more difficult to explain however, is how a mature democracy sleep-walked into a crisis that had so much precedent and in retrospect seems to have been so apparent. The policy decisions made in the boom period must shoulder much of the blame, but they were not created in a vacuum. This thesis systematically examines the discourse on the Irish economy from a broad range of commentators in the years prior to the crash, including international and domestic organisations, academics, the newspapers, and politicians. It demonstrates that key mainstream analysts anticipated how the property boom would end on the basis of estimated fundamental house prices and demand levels. This implicitly assumed that these fundamentals would remain strong as the boom abated, and ignored the potential for a market panic. By contrast, the most prescient analysts relied heavily on international precedent, and recognised that property price falls would be closely correlated with the increase observed during the boom. A key dimension of the discourse was therefore how the lessons of financial history were applied or disregarded. The Irish crash that began in 2008 has been described as one of the most dramatic economic reversals ever experienced by an industrialised country. There is a strong consensus about the economic roots of the crisis: the country experienced a classic asset bubble. Much more difficult to explain however, is how a mature democracy sleep-walked into a crisis that had so much precedent and in retrospect seems to have been so apparent. The policy decisions made in the boom period must shoulder much of the blame, but they were not created in a vacuum. This thesis systematically examines the discourse on the Irish economy from a broad range of commentators in the years prior to the crash, including international and domestic organisations, academics, the newspapers, and politicians. It demonstrates that key mainstream analysts anticipated how the property boom would end on the basis of estimated fundamental house prices and demand levels. This implicitly assumed that these fundamentals would remain strong as the boom abated, and ignored the potential for a market panic. By contrast, the most prescient analysts relied heavily on international precedent, and recognised that property price falls would be closely correlated with the increase observed during the boom. A key dimension of the discourse was therefore how the lessons of financial history were applied or disregarded.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between political authority and economic change in the tenth to twelfth centuries AD. This is often interpreted as a period of dramatic economic and political upheaval; enormous growth in commerce, the emergence of an urban network and increasingly centralised polities are all indicative of this process. Ireland has rarely been considered in discussion of this sort but analysis of Ireland’s political economy has much to contribute to the debate. This will be tackled through a consideration of the coinage struck in Ireland between c.995 and 1170 with focus upon the two themes of production and usage. In analysing this material the scale and scope of a monetary economy, the importance of commerce and the controlling aspects of royal authority will each be addressed. The approach deployed is also overtly comparative with material from other contemporary areas, particularly England and Norway, used to provide context. Ultimately, in seeking to analyse these questions within this comparative context, the issue of where economic agency behind changes in the European economy will be considered. Chapters 1 and 2 situate the research within the wider scholarly debate and precise historical context respectively. Chapters 3 to 6 are a consideration of the manner in which the Hiberno-Scandinavian coinage was produced and administered. This reassesses questions of the scale of production, administration and the role of royal authority in the production of the coinage based upon a comprehensive re-categorisation and re-dating of the material. Chapters 7 and 8 concern the use of coins in the urban environment of Dublin and across the entirety of Ireland, with coinage analysed within its archaeological contexts. Ultimately, this thesis suggests that monetary economy and levels of commerce were substantial, variable and yet relatively geographically constrained. When considered in relationship to contemporary political contexts, the importance of royal authority in directing the economy is determined to be minimal with agency behind economic change seen to rest with an urban, mercantile community.