Kevin O'Rourke

Kevin O’Rourke is a Professor of Economics at NYU Abu Dhabi. He was previously the Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College. He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a former Research Director of CEPR.

He has served the economic history profession in a wide variety of capacities, including terms spent as President of the European Historical Economics Society and Editor of the European Review of Economic History. He received his PhD in Economics at Harvard in 1989 and has taught at Columbia, University College Dublin, Harvard, Sciences Po Paris, and Trinity College Dublin.

His research lies at the intersection of economic history and international economics. He has published extensively on the history of globalization and deglobalization: his books include the prize-winning Globalization and History (co-authored with Jeffrey Williamson), and Power and Plenty: Trade, War and the World Economy in the Second Millennium (co-authored with Ronald Findlay). He was awarded an ERC Advanced Investigator in 2009 to study interwar trade and trade policy. His most recent book is Une Histoire Brève du Brexit (Odile Jacob, 2018), published in English as A Short History of Brexit: From Brentry to Backstop (Penguin, 2019).

Education:

• 2022 Doctor of Economics honoris causae, Syddansk Universitet.
• 1984-1989 Harvard University Ph.D. in Economics, June 1989. M.A. in Economics,
  June 1986. Dissertation: Agricultural Change and Rural Depopulation: Ireland 1845-76.
• 1980-1984 Trinity College, Dublin 1st Class Honors Degree & Gold Medal in Economics & Mathematics.

Research Areas:

History of the international economy

Courses Taught

• CSTS-UH 1043 Great Divergence
• SOCSC-UH 1011 Global Economic, Political and Social Development

Positions held

• Sep. 2019 - Professor of Economics, NYU Abu Dhabi
• 2011-Aug 2019 University of Oxford Chichele Professor of Economic History and Fellow of All Souls College
• 2000-2011 Trinity College, Dublin Professor of Economics.
• Spring 2005 Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences-Po) Visiting Professor
• 1997-2000 University College, Dublin Statutory Lecturer, Department of Economics
• Spring 1999 Harvard University. Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Economics
• 1992-1997 University College, Dublin College Lecturer, Department of Economics
• 1989-1992 Graduate School of Business, Columbia University Assistant Professor