Comparing the Schooling of Irish and UK Cabinet Ministers: A Demonstration of the Usefulness of an Elite Index

28 Pages Posted: 14 Feb 2014

See all articles by Brendan K O'Rourke

Brendan K O'Rourke

Technological University Dublin

John Hogan

Dublin Institute of Technology

Paul F Donnelly

Dublin Institute of Technology

Date Written: January 22, 2014

Abstract

Elites and their formation have become of increasing public concern and research interest in recent years. The lessons from such research can be made more generalizable if a measure of elite formation could be developed that is comparable across countries. But, the nature of elite formation renders this a complex task. Nevertheless, in this paper, by building upon measures employed in other fields, such as industrial economics, we construct indices that facilitate the comparison of elite formation across countries. We illustrate this through a comparison of the schooling of Irish and British cabinet ministers.

Keywords: cabinet ministers, concentration, elites, elite formation, Ireland, schools, United Kingdom (UK)

Suggested Citation

O'Rourke, Brendan K and Hogan, John and Donnelly, Paul F, Comparing the Schooling of Irish and UK Cabinet Ministers: A Demonstration of the Usefulness of an Elite Index (January 22, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2395373 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2395373

Brendan K O'Rourke

Technological University Dublin ( email )

Aungier Street
Dublin 2, D02 HW71
Ireland
+353-1-4027097 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.brendankorourke.com

John Hogan (Contact Author)

Dublin Institute of Technology ( email )

College of Business
Aungier Street (3-062)
Dublin 2
Ireland

Paul F Donnelly

Dublin Institute of Technology ( email )

College of Business
Aungier Street (3-062)
Dublin 2
Ireland

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