International influences
In their introduction to A History of Irish Economic Thought, Boylan et al. (2011) indicated that while the questions that preoccupied political economists in Ireland were often the product of the particular conjuncture, there was no distinctly national Irish tradition of political economy.
From Petty, Cantillon, Berkeley and Hutcheson through to Edgeworth and Gorman, writers from Ireland contributed significantly to the wider edifice of political economy. That said, the view that the maxims of political economy did not apply universally was a theme which was articulated not just by the post-famine historical economists but also by Jonathan Swift, who declared his contempt for those who proceed on general maxims, and by Edmund Burke, who warned that those who reason on abstract principles will be liable to the greatest errors imaginable (Prendergast, 2000).As indicated above, Cairnes, Leslie and Ingram were particularly influenced by Maine or the German Historical School. Their recognition that the economy was imbedded in a wider legal and institutional framework which could not be ignored was influential in Britain and also in the United States where it was welcomed by the nascent Institutional school. R.D.C. Black in particular has noted the importance of the mid-nineteenth century debate on Irish land tenure, and the recognition of its non-contractual features, as modifying prevailing attitudes to markets and the role of government.
Irish ideas also travelled abroad as a result of emigration. Most emigration was economically motivated but for others it was motivated by political disagreement or the need to escape imprisonment. Thus, Mathew Carey (1760—1839), who had been active in the volunteer movement in Dublin at a time when the Irish parliament was taking steps to protect domestic industry, emigrated to America, where in his Essays on Political Economy, he was one of the first to articulate arguments in support of Hamilton’s protectionist policy. Charles Gavan Duffy (1816—1903), editor of The Nation who had agitated for tenants’ rights emigrated to Australia, eventually becoming Premier of the State of Victoria. William Hearn (1826—88), formerly Professor of Greek at Queen’s College, Galway, also emigrated to Victoria where he became professor at Melbourne and authored Plutology Or the Theory of the Efforts to Satisfy Human Wants, in which he articulated a demand-oriented theory of value. Like Duffy, Hearn was a free-trader, but whereas Duffy advocated government intervention, Hearn was a strong believer in the efficacy of market forces (Moore, 2011).