Residential exodus from Dublin circa 1900: Municipal annexation and preferences for local government

This paper studies the municipal boundary expansion of Dublin in 1901, which occurred as a way to alleviate the city's financial distress. It saw multiple relatively wealthy townships annexed by the city via Royal order to increase Dublin's tax base. Using a sample of census records matched to city streets, we show that wealthy residents and Protestant residents were more likely to leave annexed areas relative to areas that remained independent. Moreover, we o er anecdotal evidence that at least some of the wealthy Protestant households departing annexed townships sorted into jurisdictions that remained independent. Our findings o er support to arguments that the municipal annexation by the city of Dublin may have accelerated the decline of annexed areas in the early twentieth century and contributed to municipal fragmentation in metropolitan Dublin.