Towards an agricultural prices index for Ireland 1850-1914

Abstract

An Irish agricultural prices index is presented for the period 1850-1914, based upon the shares of various agricultural products in total value added agricultural output. It supersedes a quasi-official construction of 1915 because it is based on variable weights which reflect the changing product mix of Irish agriculture, and it includes the decades of post-Famine recovery. The period from 1850-1890 was one of almost continuously rising real agricultural prices followed by two and a half decades of short-term prices adjustments which were almost always above the base price of 1900.