Note: I asked this question over in /r/AskEconomics (link to the original question here), but it was suggested that I cross-post my question here to get a well-informed answer.
Wikipedia states (link) that the great famine in Ireland was exacerbated by the Whig government's inadequate response to the crisis, partly motivated by the laissez-faire doctrine of the time. However, there are many articles (example) that blame the severity of the famine on excess government intervention in the market. These writers blame the corn laws, the navigation laws, and the poor laws for exacerbating the famine. However, most of these articles are hosted on websites with a strong free market or libertarian bias.
Is there an academic consensus on this topic? What arguments and evidence are considered by the academic community on either side of this issue? Do we have a way to quantify the relative contributions of laissez-faire capitalism and government intervention to the severity of Ireland's great famine?
Hi OP! Here is a link to a robust former thread on this sub that may be helpful to you! u/tiredstars and u/ParkSungJun particularly helped in this thread.This thread also discusses whether or not the Irish Potato Famine was a famine or a genocide, which you might find interesting :) hope this helps a bit, and at least answers some of your question!