The Irish famine and the financial crises of 1847 and 2022: lessons from history for modern-day policymakers

Duration: 50 mins 36 secs

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Description:	Global Food Security Coffee Break Talk given by Dr Charles Read (Faculty of History and Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge) A budget that caused markets to panic because of unfunded tax cuts and a plan to massively increase government borrowing. Interest rates and government bond yields soared. A run on the pound began. The Bank of England is forced to intervene to save financial markets from meltdown and the government's fiscal capacity shrinks. In response, the government U-turns, and announces and implements an austerity budget to balance its books to placate investors in the City of London. You might think that this is talking about the recent Autumn Statement and the aftermath of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget of September 2022. In fact, all this also happened in the equally disastrous budget of February 1847 when the British government announced plans to cut tariffs and pay for Irish-famine relief spending from borrowing. The austerity cuts the government thought were needed to balance the books and regain fiscal credibility with markets saw spending on Irish-famine relief slashed throughout the rest of 1847. This cut in funding resulted in an inadequate relief effort in Ireland, killing up to one million people. This talk will explain the similarities between the policy choices facing politicians in Britain and Ireland in the 1840s and around the world today. It will discuss what lessons can be learned from the policy mistakes made during the financial crises of 1847 and 2022 and how to prevent such events in the future from harming the food security of the most vulnerable in society.

Description:

Global Food Security Coffee Break Talk given by Dr Charles Read (Faculty of History and Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge)

A budget that caused markets to panic because of unfunded tax cuts and a plan to massively increase government borrowing. Interest rates and government bond yields soared. A run on the pound began. The Bank of England is forced to intervene to save financial markets from meltdown and the government's fiscal capacity shrinks. In response, the government U-turns, and announces and implements an austerity budget to balance its books to placate investors in the City of London.

You might think that this is talking about the recent Autumn Statement and the aftermath of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget of September 2022. In fact, all this also happened in the equally disastrous budget of February 1847 when the British government announced plans to cut tariffs and pay for Irish-famine relief spending from borrowing. The austerity cuts the government thought were needed to balance the books and regain fiscal credibility with markets saw spending on Irish-famine relief slashed throughout the rest of 1847. This cut in funding resulted in an inadequate relief effort in Ireland, killing up to one million people.

This talk will explain the similarities between the policy choices facing politicians in Britain and Ireland in the 1840s and around the world today. It will discuss what lessons can be learned from the policy mistakes made during the financial crises of 1847 and 2022 and how to prevent such events in the future from harming the food security of the most vulnerable in society.


Created:	2022-11-28 13:10
Collection:	Global Food Security
Publisher:	University of Cambridge
Copyright:	University of Cambridge
Language:	eng (English)

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