Book contents
- The Cambridge Economic History of Australia
- The Cambridge Economic History of Australia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- List of figures
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: connecting past, present and future
- Part 1 Framework
- Part 2 Transition
- Part 3 Economic expansion of the colonies
- 6 Technological change
- 7 Industrialising Australia’s natural capital
- 8 Labour, skills and migration
- 9 Colonial enterprise
- 10 Infrastructure and colonial socialism
- 11 Urbanisation
- Part 4 A national economy
- Part 5 Building the modern economy
- Part 6 Looking backwards and to the future
- Statistical Appendix: selected data series, 1800–2010
- References
- Subject index
- Company index
10 - Infrastructure and colonial socialism
from Part 3 - Economic expansion of the colonies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014
Book contents
- The Cambridge Economic History of Australia
- The Cambridge Economic History of Australia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- List of figures
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: connecting past, present and future
- Part 1 Framework
- Part 2 Transition
- Part 3 Economic expansion of the colonies
- 6 Technological change
- 7 Industrialising Australia’s natural capital
- 8 Labour, skills and migration
- 9 Colonial enterprise
- 10 Infrastructure and colonial socialism
- 11 Urbanisation
- Part 4 A national economy
- Part 5 Building the modern economy
- Part 6 Looking backwards and to the future
- Statistical Appendix: selected data series, 1800–2010
- References
- Subject index
- Company index
Summary
The Australian colonies evolved a government-centred model of infrastructure provision that was novel and, by the standards of the times, reasonably effective in supplying a broad range of infrastructure services. This chapter surveys existing interpretations and explanations of the role government played in infrastructure development in the Australian colonies, especially rural rail, providing explanations that blend efficiency, path dependence and, ultimately, vulnerability to rent seeking. By international standards, the Victorian commission model was an important innovation, giving rise to Andre Metin's famous descriptor, 'socialism without doctrine'. As with transport, the economic and social case for investment in communications sprang from the 'tyranny of distance'. The history of rail in the 19th century shows considerable vacillation between government and private roles; thus, some explanation is needed of why the public ownership model, even if initially contingent and accidental, 'stuck' and spread in the Australian colonies.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Economic History of Australia , pp. 222 - 244Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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