I am currently working on history of economic thought as it applies to the evolution of the theory of international trade. I collaborate on work relating to the evaluation of agri-environmental schemes and I have just completed work on the cost of children to families in Ireland. I have also worked in the recent past on the measurement of inflation indices for distinct social groups and on the theoretical and methodological implications of different cost of living indices.

My interests are primarily methodological, in particular addressing how economics became the kind of discipline that it now is, what are the core concepts and methods that define the neoclassical economics project and what are the methodological challenges that the discipline faces.

Undergraduate and Masters education in University College Dublin. Postgraduate education at Kiel Institute for Advanced Studies, European University Institute in Florence and School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. I have worked in the areas of agricultural economics, environmental issues as they relate to agriculture, European issues to do with European integration, work on welfare related issues for Combat Poverty and currently on history and methodology in economics.
 

Selected Publications:

The inadequacy of cost of living indices based on subjective preferences: an ethical and methodological critique (article published in International Review of Applied Economics)

Modelling habitat conservation and participation in agri-environmental schemes (article published in Ecological Economics)

The Nice Treaty and the Irish Referendum: what values are at stake? (article published in Studies)