Culture, Politics and Innovation: Creamery Diffusion in late 19th Century Denmark and Ireland.

This paper tries to be the first step in a systematic comparison of economic growth in Denmark and Ireland between 1870 and 1939. Section 2 ofthis paper sets the scene by discussing broader trends of living standards and agricultural productivity. Section 3 outlines the developments in the dairying industry which is so disturbed contemporary Irishmen. Section 4 surveys the large contemporary and historical literature dealing with the causes of relative Irish failure. Section 5 uses evidence on the diffuson of creamery cooperatives across Irish counties to asses some of these arguments.