Book contents
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- The Cambridge Economic Historyof the Modern World
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume II
- Introduction to Volume II
- Part I Regional Developments
- 1 North America
- 2 Western Europe
- 3 The Socialist Experiment and Beyond
- 4 Japan
- 5 Economic Changes in China
- 6 From Free Trade to Regulation
- 7 Growth and Globalization Phases in South East Asian Development
- 8 The Middle East
- 9 Latin America
- 10 African Economic Development
- 11 Australia
- Part II Factors Governing Differential Outcomes in the Global Economy
- Index
- References
11 - Australia
Prosperity, Relative Decline, and Reorientation
from Part I - Regional Developments
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 June 2021
Book contents
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- The Cambridge Economic Historyof the Modern World
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume II
- Introduction to Volume II
- Part I Regional Developments
- 1 North America
- 2 Western Europe
- 3 The Socialist Experiment and Beyond
- 4 Japan
- 5 Economic Changes in China
- 6 From Free Trade to Regulation
- 7 Growth and Globalization Phases in South East Asian Development
- 8 The Middle East
- 9 Latin America
- 10 African Economic Development
- 11 Australia
- Part II Factors Governing Differential Outcomes in the Global Economy
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter outlines the key contours of Australian economic history between 1870 and 2010 in a comparative perspective. Overall, the story it tells is a positive one, in spite of the vexing challenges that Australia has faced. Despite undergoing relative economic decline and a fundamental reorientation in the direction of its trade over this period, Australia emerged into the twenty-first century with its status as one of the world’s most prosperous and advanced societies intact. While numerous challenges remain unresolved, Australia’s experience to date provides a clear-cut example of a society where an abundance of natural resources has proved a blessing rather than a curse. The secret of Australia’s avoidance of the pitfalls that have befallen so many countries similarly blessed appears to lie in the ability of its institutions to adapt successfully in the face of changed circumstances while remaining supportive of innovative and productive activities.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World , pp. 306 - 326Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
References
Altman, J. and Biddle, N. (2015). ‘Refiguring Indigenous Economies: A Twenty-First-Century Perspective’, in Ville, S. and Withers, G. (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of Australia, Cambridge University Press, 530–554.Google Scholar
Anderson, K. (2017). ‘Sectoral Trends and Shocks in Australia’s Economic Growth’, Australian Economic History Review, 57, 2–21.Google Scholar
Atkinson, A. B. and Leigh, A. (2007). ‘The Distribution of Top Incomes in Australia’, Economic Record, 83, 247–261.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011). Migration, Australia 2011–12, cat. no. 3412.0, Canberra: ABS.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics(2012). Australian Demographic Statistics, cat. no. 3101.0, Canberra: ABS.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics(2013). Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, June 2011, cat. no. 3238. 0.55.001, Canberra: ABS.Google Scholar
Bhattacharyya, S. and Williamson, J. G. (2011). ‘Commodity Price Shocks and the Australian Economy since Federation’, Australian Economic History Review, 51, 150–177.Google Scholar
Bhattacharyya, S. and Williamson, J. G. (2016). ‘Distributional Consequences of Commodity Price Shocks: Australia over a Century’, Review of Income and Wealth, 62, 223–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boehm, E. A. (1971). Prosperity and Depression in Australia, 1887–1897, Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Broadberry, S. and Irwin, D. A. (2007). ‘Lost Exceptionalism? Comparative Income and Productivity in Australia and the UK, 1861–1948’, Economic Record, 83, 262–274.Google Scholar
Butlin, M., Dixon, R., and Lloyd, P. J. (2015). ‘Statistical Appendix: Selected Data Series, 1800–2010’, in Ville, S. and Withers, G. (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of Australia, Cambridge University Press, 555–594.Google Scholar
Butlin, N. G. (1971). Investment in Australian Economic Development, 1861–1900, Canberra: ANU Press.Google Scholar
Crafts, N. F. R. (1997). ‘The Human Development Index and Changes in Standards of Living: Some Historical Comparisons’, European Review of Economic History, 1, 299–322.Google Scholar
Crafts, N. F. R. (2002). ‘The Human Development Index, 1870–1999: Some Revised Estimates’, European Review of Economic History, 6, 395–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cranfield, J. and Inwood, K. (2015). ‘A Tale of Two Armies: Comparative Growth in the Mirror of the First World War’, Australian Economic History Review, 55, 212–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, L. E. and Gallman, R. E. (2001). Evolving Financial Markets and International Capital Flows: Britain, the Americas, and Australia, 1865–1914, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Davison, G. (1978). The Rise and Fall of Marvellous Melbourne, Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. (2016). Trade and Investment Statistics, Australia’s Direction of Merchandise Trade, Total Trade, available online at www.dfat.gov.au/trade/resources/trade-statistics/Pages/trade-time-series-data (data accessed 11 March 2017).Google Scholar
Dyster, B. and Meredith, D. (2012). Australia in the Global Economy: Continuity and Change, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Frost, L. (1998). ‘The Contribution of the Urban Sector to Australian Economic Development before 1914’, Australian Economic History Review, 38, 42–73.Google Scholar
Frost, L. (2015). ‘Urbanisation’, in Ville, S. and Withers, G. (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of Australia, Cambridge University Press, 245–263.Google Scholar
Greasley, D. and Madsen, J. B. (2017). ‘The Rise and Fall of Exceptional Australian Incomes since 1800’, Australian Economic History Review, 57, 264–290.Google Scholar
Haig-Muir, M. (1995). ‘The Economy at War’, in Beaumont, J. (ed.), Australia’s War, 1914–18, St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 93–124.Google Scholar
Holbrook, C. (2014). Anzac: The Unauthorised Biography, Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.Google Scholar
Huberman, M. and Minns, C. (2007). ‘The Times They Are Not Changin’: Days and Hours of Work in Old and New Worlds, 1870–2000’, Explorations in Economic History, 44, 538–567.Google Scholar
Hunter, B. (2015). ‘The Aboriginal Legacy’, in Ville, S. and Withers, G. (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of Australia, Cambridge University Press, 73–96.Google Scholar
McLean, I. W. (2006). ‘Recovery from Depression: Australia in an Argentine Mirror, 1895–1913’, Australian Economic History Review, 46, 215–241.Google Scholar
McLean, I. W. (2013). Why Australia Prospered: The Shifting Sources of Economic Growth, Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Maddison, A. (2010). Statistics on World Population, GDP and Per Capita GDP, 1–2008 AD, table 1, available online at www.ggdc.net/MADDISON/oriindex.htm (accessed 29 September 2020), Groningen Growth and Development Centre.Google Scholar
Maddison Project Database, version 2013. Bolt, J. and van Zanden, J. L. (2014). ‘The Maddison Project: Collaborative Research on Historical National Accounts’, Economic History Review, 67, 627–651.Google Scholar
Maddock, R. (1987). ‘The Long Boom, 1940–1970’, in Maddock, R. and McLean, I. W. (eds.), The Australian Economy in the Long Run, Cambridge University Press, 79–105.Google Scholar
Magee, G. B. (1999). ‘Technological Development and Foreign Patenting: Evidence from Nineteenth-Century Australia’, Explorations in Economic History, 36, 344–359.Google Scholar
Magee, G. B. (2000). Knowledge Generation, Technological Change and Economic Growth in Colonial Australia, Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing.Google Scholar
Magee, G. B. and Thompson, A. S. (2010). Empire and Globalisation: Networks of People, Capital and Goods in the British World, 1850–1914, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mellor, D. P. (1958). The Role of Science and Industry: Australia in the War of 1939–1945, Series 4, Civil, Vol. V, Canberra: Australian War Memorial.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B. R. (2013). International Historical Statistics, 1750–2010, Vol. I: Africa, Asia and Oceania, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Mulvaney, D. J. (2002). ‘Difficult to Found an Opinion: 1788 Aboriginal Population Estimate’, in Briscoe, G. and Smith, L. (eds.), The Aboriginal Population Revisited: 70,000 Years to the Present, Canberra: ANU Press, 1–8.Google Scholar
Pagan, A. (1987). ‘The End of the Long Boom’, in Maddock, R. and McLean, I. W. (eds.), The Australian Economy in the Long Run, Cambridge University Press, 106–130.Google Scholar
Price, C. (1987). ‘Immigration and Ethnic Origin’, in Vamplew, W. (ed.), Australians: Historical Statistics, Broadway: Fairfax, Symes and Weldon Associates, 2–22.Google Scholar
Quiggin, J. (1996). Great Expectations: Microeconomic Reform in Australia, St Leonards: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Sachs, J. and Warner, A. (2001). ‘The Curse of Natural Resources’, European Economic Review, 45, 827–838.Google Scholar
Schedvin, C. B. (1970). Australia and the Great Depression: A Study of Economic Development and Policy in the 1920s and 1930s, Sydney University Press.Google Scholar
Sinclair, W. A. (1976). The Process of Economic Development in Australia, Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.Google Scholar
Snooks, G. D. (1988). ‘Government Unemployment Relief in the 1930s: Aid or Hindrance to Recovery?’, in Gregory, R. G. and Butlin, N. G. (eds.), Recovery from Depression: Australia and the World Economy in the 1930s, Cambridge University Press, 311–334.Google Scholar
Taylor, J. and Magee, G. (2017). ‘In the Aftermath: Consumer Choice and the Deregulation of Australian Retail Banking, 1988–1993’, Australian Economic History Review, 57, 134–157.Google Scholar
Torvik, R. (2009). ‘Why Do Some Resource-Abundant Countries Succeed While Others Do Not?’, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 25, 241–256.Google Scholar
UNDP. (2016). Human Development Index trends, 1990–2018, available online at http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/trends (data accessed 11 March 2017), UNDP Human Development Reports.Google Scholar
Valentine, T. (1987). ‘The Depression of the 1930s’, in Maddock, R. and McLean, I. W. (eds.), The Australian Economy in the Long Run, Cambridge University Press, 61–78.Google Scholar