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Dr Aidan Kane

BA (Mod.) PhD

 
researcher
 

Biography

Dr Aidan Kane is a lecturer in economics at the University of Galway.

His BA and PhD are from the University of Dublin, Trinity College. His research interests are principally in Irish economic history, and in particular, the construction of historical datasets, mainly related to Irish public finance, from the 18th century to the present, and on Ireland's 18th century international trade, using a range of web, programming, and relational database technologies. He is currently also working on maritime economic history, working on databases of 19th steamships built in Britain and Ireland, on the analysis of technological and industry change in shipping through a database of Lloyd's Register from the 1780s to the 1860s, and a separate project on the evolution of cotton spinning machinery in 19th century Britain.

He also has an interest in the political economy of innovation policy in Ireland, having served as director of the University's Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC) from 2002 to 2006. (CISC is now titled the Whitaker Institute).

He teaches Irish economic history, financial economics/macroeconomics at undergraduate and postgrad level, and he supervises students in respect of final year projects, theses/placements in taught postgraduate programmes, and at PhD level. Dr Kane was previously programme director of the Higher Diploma in Economic Science at the University of Galway,  previously director of undergraduate studies in economics, and head of economics from November 2016 to May 2019 at the University of Galway.

Find out more about his work on Irish economic history data reflected in the Duanaire project
Duanaire  is building a repository of Irish economic history data. At present, the focus is on 18th century Irish fiscal data, and on a major project near completion to digitise, capture, and make available an extensive dataset on Ireland's 18th century international trade. 

Research Interests

Keywords: economic history, Irish economic history, fiscal history, economic history data management.


My research interests are principally in Irish economic history, and in particular, the construction of historical datasets, mainly related to Irish public finance, from the 18th century to the present, using a range of web, programming, and relational database technologies. These include R, Perl, MySQL, and php, as well as the use of OCR technologies for data capture. Current projects are focussed on a major dataset on Ireland's international trade in the 18th century, and on the application of linked data technologies to economic history data.

I have recently worked in maritime economic history, particularly in respect of work on 19th century steamships built in Britain and Ireland, and on an analysis of data on shipping from Lloyd's Register of Shipping from c1780 to 1860, as well as a separate project on the evolution of cotton spinning machinery in 19th century Britain.


I also have an interest in the political economy of innovation policy in Ireland, having served as director of the University's Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC) from 2002 to 2006. (CISC is now titled the Whitaker Institute

Research Projects

  Project Start Date End Date
Customs 15 - A digital data archive of Ireland's International trade 1698-1829 01-JAN-15 31-DEC-22
Duanaire 01-JAN-15 30-JUN-20

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
(2023) 'Shipping in the London coal trade, 1700¿1860'
Solar, Peter M; Buxton, Oliver; Kane, Aidan (2023) 'Shipping in the London coal trade, 1700¿1860'. Economic History Review, [DOI] [Details]
(2021) 'After the great inventions: technological change in UK cotton spinning, 1780–1835'
Maw, Peter; Solar, Peter M; Kane, Aidan;Lyons, John S (2021) 'After the great inventions: technological change in UK cotton spinning, 1780–1835'. Economic History Review, [DOI] [Details]
(2020) 'Tons, Tonneaux, Toneladas, Lasts. British and European Ship Tonnages in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries'
Behrendt, Stephen D;Solar, Peter M;Hens, Luc;Kane, Aidan;Marzagalli, Siliva;Moreira, Maria Cristina (2020) 'Tons, Tonneaux, Toneladas, Lasts. British and European Ship Tonnages in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries'. Histoire & Mesure, XXXV (2):197-232 [DOI] [Details]
(1999) 'Innovation Policy in Ireland: Economic Ideas and Institutional Diversity'
Kane, A. (1999) 'Innovation Policy in Ireland: Economic Ideas and Institutional Diversity'. Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland, 28 :115-126 [Details]
(1995) 'Public Expenditure: Trends and Prospects'
Kane, A. (1995) 'Public Expenditure: Trends and Prospects'. Irish Banking Review, [Details]
(1994) 'Irish Property Rights: A Public Choice Perspective'
Kane, A. (1994) 'Irish Property Rights: A Public Choice Perspective'. Studies, [Details]

Book Chapters

  Year Publication
(2020) 'Arkwright's Legacy: The Water-Frame and the Mechanisation of Cotton Spinning'
Maw, Peter; Solar, Peter M; Kane, Aidan (2020) 'Arkwright's Legacy: The Water-Frame and the Mechanisation of Cotton Spinning' In: Industry and British People: Cromford, the Derwent Valley, and Beyond. Cromford: The Arkwright Society. [Details]

Other Journals

  Year Publication
(2015) 'Ireland 1689-1829'
Kane, Aidan; Walsh, Patrick A; Magennis, Eoin (2015) 'Ireland 1689-1829' Revue de OFCE, 140 (4) :269-273. [DOI] [Details]

Database

  Year Publication
(2009) Database of Irish central and local government expenditure and revenue 1922/23 to 1963/64, c80,000 items, 2006-2009.
Kane, A. (2009) Database of Irish central and local government expenditure and revenue 1922/23 to 1963/64, c80,000 items, 2006-2009. Database [Details]
(2010) Database of finances of Grand Jurys of Ireland c. 1775 to 1898 c60,000 items, 2010.
Kane, A. (2010) Database of finances of Grand Jurys of Ireland c. 1775 to 1898 c60,000 items, 2010. Database [Details]
(2011) Database of detailed components of Irish public debt of central and local government 1922/23 to 1990 c12,000 items, 2011.
Kane, A. (2011) Database of detailed components of Irish public debt of central and local government 1922/23 to 1990 c12,000 items, 2011. Database [Details]
(2011) Database of revenues of Ireland 1688-1799 c7,000 items, 2011.
Kane, A. (2011) Database of revenues of Ireland 1688-1799 c7,000 items, 2011. Database [Details]

Discussion

  Year Publication
(2013) Commentary on Sorenson on Geography and sustainable systems.
Kane, Aidan J (2013) Commentary on Sorenson on Geography and sustainable systems. Discussion [Details]

Seminar

  Year Publication
(2019) Ireland's international trade with the Baltic in the 18th century.
Aidan Kane (2019) Ireland's international trade with the Baltic in the 18th century. Seminar [Details]

Working Paper

  Year Publication
(2020) After the great inventions: Technological change in English cotton spinning, 1780-1835.
Peter M Solar, Pete Maw, John Lyons, Aidan Kane (2020) After the great inventions: Technological change in English cotton spinning, 1780-1835. Working Paper [Details]
(2001) Indicators and Evaluation for Science, Technology and Innovation.. Dublin: Irish Council for Science Technology and Innovation.
Kane, A. (2001) Indicators and Evaluation for Science, Technology and Innovation.. Dublin: Irish Council for Science Technology and Innovation. Working Paper [Details]
(2001) Rationales for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy in Ireland.. Dublin: Working Paper for Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation.
Kane, A. (2001) Rationales for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy in Ireland.. Dublin: Working Paper for Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation. Working Paper [Details]
(2001) Irish Membership of CERN: an economic evaluation.. Dublin: Report for the Department of Public Enterprise.
Kane, A. (2001) Irish Membership of CERN: an economic evaluation.. Dublin: Report for the Department of Public Enterprise. Working Paper [Details]
(1997) Into EMU without the UK: managing the consequences.. Galway Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Kane, A. (1997) Into EMU without the UK: managing the consequences.. Galway Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Working Paper [Details]
(1996) Monetary Union and Optimal Currency Areas.. Poitiers: Paper for Erasmus Intensive Course.
Kane, A. (1996) Monetary Union and Optimal Currency Areas.. Poitiers: Paper for Erasmus Intensive Course. Working Paper [Details]
(1995) Fiscal aggregates for the Irish central government since 1922. Dublin Economics Workshop.
Kane, A. (1995) Fiscal aggregates for the Irish central government since 1922. Dublin Economics Workshop. Working Paper [Details]
(1995) Accounting for Government: the Irish Case.. Foundation for Fiscal Studies.
Kane, A. (1995) Accounting for Government: the Irish Case.. Foundation for Fiscal Studies. Working Paper [Details]
(1993) Reform in Irish Public Financial Procedures. Foundation for Fiscal Studies.
Kane, A. (1993) Reform in Irish Public Financial Procedures. Foundation for Fiscal Studies. Working Paper [Details]

Honours and Awards

  Year Title Awarding Body
1999 Barrington Medal Statistical and Social Inquiry Society Inquiry

Committees

  Committee Function From / To
Editorial advisory board, for Administration, IPA, Dublin /
Archives Strategy Group, NUI Galway Member /

Teaching Interests

I teach a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules, including a module on financial economics mainly for 2nd year arts business and economics students, an Irish economic history module mainly taken by second year arts undergraduates, a module on the contemporary Irish economy in a global context mainly taken by final year undergraduates, and a new postgrad module on financial and economic history, along with continuing supervision of final year projects, masters thesis, and PhD theses.

Modules Taught

  Term/Year Module Title Module Code Subject / Desc
2022/2023 Introduction to Financial Economics EC247
2022/2023 Irish Economic History EC207
2022/2023 Ireland in the Global Economy EC423
2022/2023 Financial and Macroeconomic History EC5126

External Collaborators

  Name Organisation / Institute Country Description of Collaboration
Peter M Solar Vesalius College, VUB and Université Saint-Louis-Bruxelles BELGIUM
Joint projects constructing and analysing databases of 19th century British and Irish steamships (c.50,000 data points) and on 18th-19th century ships in Lloyds register (c.200,000 data points), the latter funded through a grant from Lloyds Register Foundation http://www.lrfoundation.org.uk