The Examination Papers for the Whately Professorship of Political Economy: Responses of a Science and Ideology to the Great Irish Famine

JEL Classification N01

Nien-hê Hsieh

Department of Economics, Harvard University, Cambride MA 02138, USA.

Abstract

Founded in 1832, the Whately Professorship of Political Economy at Trinity College, Dublin was the first chair of its kind in Ireland, and the examination papers given to its potential holders uniquely document the criteria for mastery of political economy in nineteenth century Ireland and Britain. Noting the lack of an impact by the Great Irish Famine on these criteria, I demonstrate how a belief in the scientific status of political economy explains this observation. I conclude by relating this explanation to current debates surrounding the role of economic thought in responses to the Famine.

Acknowledgements

I thank R.D.C. Black and Cormac O Grada for fruitful discussions, and Lisa Finneran for her support and editorial help. I am indebted to Antoin Murphy for his suggestion that the examination papers might reveal something significant in relation to the Great Irish Famine.