The CEO: The Rise and Fall of Britain’s Captains of Industry
08/07/2025
The CEOs of Britain’s largest companies wield immense power, but we know very little about them. How did they get to the top? Why do
Welcome to our archive of working papers, articles and monographs written by CEPH members.
This collection encompasses an array of themes and represents the cutting edge of the economic history discipline.
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The CEOs of Britain’s largest companies wield immense power, but we know very little about them. How did they get to the top? Why do
Abstract: Electrification influences economic choices, not least by allowing households to replace labour with capital and to enhance domestic labour productivity. We test whether newly
Summary: We study the health impact of the Great Irish Famine by comparing cohorts born during the Famine with those born immediately before and immediately
Abstract: This chapter examines the role of religion in economic development, both historically and today. Religion’s influence varies globally, with high religiosity in countries like
Abstract: The quality of age reporting in Ireland worsened in the years after the 1845–1852 Great Irish Famine, even as measures of educational attainment improved.
Abstract: The 1955-56 macroeconomic crisis is a central event in modern Irish history. Yet, despite this centrality, its causes are not clearly understood. In 1955-6,
Abstract: A large literature argues that resource constraints inhibit human capital accumulation. We test this hypothesis using the introduction of the Old Age Pension in
Abstract: This article examines the responsiveness of new housing supply to prices and costs, using the case of Ireland at quarterly frequency from the 1970s,
Abstract: Why do we choose one language over another? Rival views see language frontiers as exogenous, driven by policy, or endogenous, determined by social, cultural
Abstract: Background Mental illness is the leading cause of years lived with disability, and the global disease burden of mental ill-health has increased substantially in
Abstract: This article surveys the economic policies pursued over the first decade of the Irish Free State. The Cumann na nGaedheal governments of W. T.
Abstract: This paper constructs annual GDP estimates for Ireland (1924-47) to join the first complete official aggregates. The new series is deployed to revisit Ireland’s
Abstract: What are the insights from historical pandemics for policymaking today? We carry out a systematic review of the literature on the impact of pandemics
Abstract: This paper studies a natural experiment in macroeconomic history: the Irish bank strike of 1966, which led to the closure of the major commercial
Abstract: How does housing policy influence the long-run distribution of population? We examine the impact on long-term population dynamics of the world’s first large-scale rural
Abstract: This paper asks whether history should change the way in which economists and economic historians think about populism. We use Müller’s definition, according to
Abstract: We introduce a new database of historical Genuine Savings (GS), an indicator of sustainable development promoted by the World Bank and widely used in
Summary: Nationalists think about the economy, Marvin Suesse argues, and this thinking matters once nationalists hold political power. Many nationalists seek to limit global exchange,
Abstract: Ireland developed one of the world’s most intensive railroad networks in the second half of the 19th century. However, the emergence of railroads occurred
Abstract: The quality of age reporting in Ireland worsened in the years after the Great Irish Famine (1845–1852), even as other measures of educational attainment
Abstract: What effect does political instability in the form of a potential secession from a political union have on business formation? Using newly collected data
Abstract: We assemble the Irish industrial data currently available for the years 1800–1921, the period during which the entire island was in a political union
Abstract: This paper analyzes the triggers of rebellion and documents the historical roots of conflict using a unique dataset at the individual level. Drawing on
Abstract: Since 1987, the wages of women in Ireland have been growing faster than those of men. This, coupled with a decrease in the average
Abstract: Using data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), linked to administrative data on high-speed broadband availability from infrastructure maps, this study examines
Abstract: The close of the First World War signalled a proliferation of newly established nation-states across Europe. However, the unilateral proclamations of these states’ independence
Abstract: This chapter written for the Oxford Handbook of Historical Political Economy argues that you cannot understand the history of globalization without taking political factors
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