A graduate of University College Dublin (undergraduate degree and doctorate) in 1973, and of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Barrett has been a member of the University of Dublin's department of Economics since 1977 [REF].
He was one of the economists along with Colm McCarthy and Moore McDowell, nicknamed the Doheny & Nesbitt School of Economics, who were closely identified with the early policies of the Progressive Democrats [REF].