I am a final-year PhD candidate in Economics at Queen’s University Belfast. My research explores how public policy shapes poverty and inequality, drawing on insights from development economics and economic history. My current work examines the impact of unconditional cash transfers on primary school enrollment among low-income households, leveraging the introduction of the 1908 Old Age Pension in Ireland and full-count census data from 1901 and 1911. This working paper can be found here.
I submitted my thesis in September 2025. The other two papers of my thesis can be found below under the Scholarship heading. The first quantifies the change in Irish poverty from 1872 – 1914 and conducts an exploratory analysis of the socio-economic drivers of this change. The second evaluates a unique place-based policy – the Congested Districts Board of Ireland 1891 – 1909, and estimates the effect of the policy on poverty, living-standards, and agricultural development.
Before beginning my PhD, I served as a political advisor in the European Parliament, specialising in regional development, constitutional affairs, and civil liberties, and later as a constituency office manager in Derry City.
I hold an MSc with Distinction in Economics as well as a First-Class Class BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE).
Email: theaney01@qub.ac.uk
