Kieran A. Kennedy, MRIA (14 July 1935 – 6 February 2013) was an Irish neo-Keynesian applied economist, economic historian and Director of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) from 1971 to 1996. A civil servant, lecturer and researcher, he worked with Fianna Fáil Taoiseach Charles Haughey to formulate his economic strategy The Way Forward and directed his and subsequent administrations from the 1980s until Kennedy's retirement.