BA (Mod.) PhD

Contact Details


Economics
Room 206
First floor Cairnes Building

T: +353-91-492530
E: aidan.kane@nuigalway.ie
 
researcher

Biography

Dr Aidan Kane is head of economics at NUI 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 pursuing a particular interest in the application of open linked data technologies to economic history data.

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 and macroeconomics at undergraduate level, and he supervises students in respect of final year projects, theses/placements in taught postgraduate programmes, and at PhD level. Dr Kane is  currently programme director of the Higher Diploma in Economic Science at NUI Galway, as well as head of economics, and was previously director of undergraduate studies in economics.

Find out more about his work on Irish economic history data reflected in the Duanaire project
Duanaire (pronounced something like doo'nara, meaning anthology or treasury) is building a unique repository of Irish economic history data at NUI Galway. 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. Duanaire involves a close collaboration between three partners within NUI Galway: the James Hardiman Library, the Whitaker Institute, and the Moore Institute

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 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 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-16
Duanaire 01-JAN-15 31-DEC-16

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
(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]

Other Journals

  Year Publication
(2015) 'Ireland 1689-1829'
Kane, Aidan J; Walsh, Patrick A; Magennis, Eoin (2015) 'Ireland 1689-1829' Revue de OFCE, 140 :1-5. [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]

Working Paper

  Year Publication
(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 principles course in macroeconomics for first years, an Irish economic history module for final arts undergraduates, a module on the contemporary Irish economy in a global context for final year arts undergraduates, and a research paper module for postgraduate economics students, along with continuing supervision of final year projects, masters thesis, and PhD theses.

Modules Taught

  Term/Year Module Title Module Code Subject / Desc
2016/2017 Principles of Macroeconomics EC141
2016/2017 Research Paper I EC415
2016/2017 Research Paper II EC416
2016/2017 Irish Economic History EC207

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