The Australian economic history traces Australia's economic history since the European settlement in 1788.
Video Economic history of Australia
1788-1821
The first European settlement in Australia occurred on January 26, 1788 in Port Jackson (modern Sydney, New South Wales), when the First Fleet carried over 1,000 inmates, marines and sailors, and a large number of shops to find New South Wales prison colonies. The British Empire claims all parts of eastern Australia's mainland as its territory on the basis of terra nullius, although the actual landing and completion of the consequences are limited to the Port Jackson area. According to the first census of 1788 as reported by Governor Phillip to Lord Sydney, Minister of the Interior, the white population in the colony was 1,030, of which 753 were inmates and their children, and the colony also had 7 horses, 29 sheep, 74 pigs, 6 rabbits, and 7 cows. Indigenous people are not counted or estimated, or reported at the time. The next settler arrived: The Second Fleet arrived in 1789, the Third Fleet arrived in 1791, and another inmate vehicle followed.
The Governors of New South Wales have the authority to grant land grants to free settlers, emancipators (ex-convicts) and non-commissioned officers. Land grants often depend on conditions, such as a stop rent (one shilling per 50 hectares (200,000 m2) has to be paid after five years) and requirements for grantees to live and cultivate the land. Whaling in Australia began in 1791, when Captain Thomas Melvill, led Britannia, one of 11 Third Fleet vessels, and Captain Eber Bunker of an expedition led by William and Ann in Australian waters. Whale and whale oil is a lucrative commodity and whaling is one of Australia's first major export industries. Sealing and whaling contributed more to the colonial economy than land production until the 1830s. When Governor Phillip left the colony in December 1792, the European population was 4,221, of whom 3,099 were inmates.
Hobart at a place called Van Diemen's Land (modern Tasmania) was founded in 1804 as a settlement of punishment. Its stance is more to prevent the possibility of France's claim to part of what is now in Australia than any economic benefit to the Sydney settlement.
The New South Wales colony barely survived the first few years and was largely ignored during the next quarter of a century when the British government was occupied until 1815 with the Napoleonic Wars. One of the most important British oversight is the provision of enough currency for the new colony and, due to lack of any money, the real means of exchange for the first 25 years of settlement is rum. Although it did not solve the problems arising from the lack of coins, but in an attempt to incorporate some orders into the economy, in 1800, Governor Philip Gidley King set the value of various foreign coins circulating in New South Wales. During this period, the New South Wales Corps, whose officers benefited most from access to land and imported goods (thus desperately involving public and private interests), opposed the governor's authority. The New South Wales Corps were recalled in 1808.
Governor Macquarie was appointed the following year. There was a policy change under his administration for the promotion of the private economy to support the penitentiary regime, apart from the activities and interests of the colonial government. There was a significant increase in transport after 1810, which provided cheap and skilled labor for the colony. As laborers, craftsmen, clerks and merchants, many inmates have the required skills in new settlements. When their terms expire, they are also permanently added to the free population.
The Blue Mountains is a barrier to colony expansion. The Blue Mountains crossing in 1813 allowed settlers to access and use rich land in the western mountains to farm. Bathurst was established as the first inland settlement in Australia. The first bank in Sydney, Bank of New South Wales, was established in 1817. The bank, and any private bank established thereafter, may issue its own banknotes. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Bank of New South Wales opened branches, first across Australia and Oceania, including branches in Moreton Bay (Brisbane) in 1850, then in Victoria (1851), New Zealand (1861), South Australia ( 1877), Western Australia (1883), Fiji (1901), Papua (now part of Papua New Guinea) (1910) and Tasmania (1910).
In line with the United Kingdom of the British government policy on the settlement of concentrated land for the colony, the Governor of New South Wales tends to be conservative in making land grants. At the end of Macquarie's term in 1821, less than 1,000 square miles (3,000 km2) of land had been provided in the colony. Above all, agriculture is established on the basis of land grants for senior officials and released prisoners, and limited freedom is allowed for inmates to supply various goods and services. Although economic life is heavily dependent on the government Commissariat as a supplier of goods, money and foreign exchange, the rights of individuals in property and labor are recognized, and the private market for both begins to function.
Maps Economic history of Australia
1821-1870s
According to the 2018 study in the Economic Review Review, "Australian GDP per worker grew very rapidly from the 1820s to the 1870s, at a rate of about twice that of the US and three times that of the UK." This rapid growth in GDP per worker does not lead to an increase in inequality (as in similar scenarios in other countries) but rather "an increase in revolutionary leveling in earnings through the 1870s."
During the four-year term of the Governor of Brisbane (1821-1825), land grants are made easier. In addition, the regulations introduced during Brisbane's time allowed settlers to purchase (with their permission) up to 4,000 acres (16Ã, kmÃ,²) in 5s an acre (with superior land quality at 7s 6d). During his tenure, the total amount of land in private hands almost doubled.
Those who are known as 'free settlers' are only allowed to take land in approved territory, which since 1826 is confined to the Ninety Nations in the Sydney settlement. From 1831 free land granting stopped and the only land that will be available for sale is within Nineteen States. Despite the uncertainty of land tenure, squatters ran large numbers of sheep and cattle out of bounds. From 1836 they can legally do it, paying ten pounds a year for the rights.
From 1820s economic growth is based more on the production of fine wool and other rural commodities to the UK market and the industrialization economy of Northwest Europe. To finance this trade a number of banks were established in London in the 1830s, including Bank of Australasia in 1835 and Union Bank of Australia established in 1837. This growth was disrupted by two major depressions during the 1840s and 1890s and stimulated in the complex. ways by the rich gold discoveries in Victoria in 1851, but the underlying dynamics are essentially unchanged.
At different times, the extraction of natural resources, whether maritime before the 1840s or later gold and other minerals, is also important. Agriculture, local manufacturing and construction industries are expanded to meet the immediate needs of population growth, which are increasingly concentrated in key urban centers.
Opportunities for large profits in grazing and mining attract large amounts of UK capital, while expansion is generally supported by enormous government spending on transport, communications and urban infrastructure, which is also heavily dependent on UK finances. As the economy grew, large-scale immigration became essential to meet the growing demand for workers, especially after the end of prisoner transportation to the eastern mainland in 1840.
The cost of immigration was subsidized by the colonial government, with settlers coming mainly from the UK and bringing in skills that greatly contributed to economic growth. All this provides the foundation for the establishment of a free colonial society. In turn, the institutions associated with this - including the rule of law, secure property rights, and a stable and democratic political system - create conditions that, on balance, promote growth.
In addition to New South Wales, four other British colonies were established on the mainland: Western Australia (1829), South Australia (1836), Victoria (1851) and Queensland (1859). Van Di Diemen (Tasmania after 1856) became a separate colony in 1825. From the 1850s, these colonies gained a responsible government. In 1901, they allied themselves, creating the Commonwealth of Australia.
The process of colonial growth began with two related developments. First, in 1820, Macquarie responded to the pressure of the land in the districts that immediately surrounded Sydney with loosening of settlement restrictions. Soon the movement of shepherds looking for new pastures became uncontrollable. From the 1820s, British authorities also encouraged private companies by assigning large duties to prisoners to private companies and easy access to the ground.
In 1831, the principles of systematic colonization popularized by Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796-1862) were practiced in New South Wales with the replacement of land sales for grants to finance immigration. However, this does not affect the continuous exit movement of shepherds who occupy only land where they can find it outside the official boundaries of the settlements, usually regardless of the rights of indigenous peoples.
By 1840, they had claimed a vast area two hundred miles from Moreton Bay in the north (modern Brisbane location) to Port Phillip District (the future Victorian colony, whose capital Melbourne marked in 1837). ) to Adelaide in South Australia. The absence of a legal title means that these intruders are known as 'squatters' and the terms of their tenure were finally not settled until 1846 after a prolonged political struggle with New South Wales Governor Sir George Gipps.
The impact of the original criminal settlement on the indigenous population is enormous. The consequences of squatting after 1820 are equally devastating as land and natural resources upon which indigenous renewal and environmental management activities depend on large-scale adjustments. Aboriginal populations collapse in the face of illness, violence and forcible transfer until they survive only on the fringe of a new pastoral economy, on the government reserve, or on the driest part of the continent most untouched by white settlements. This process will be repeated in northern Australia during the second half of this century.
For these colonists it could happen because Australia is considered terra nullius, free vacant land is available for occupation and exploitation. The encouragement of private companies, the acceptance of Wakefieldian ideas, and the massive spread of white settlements are part of a major transformation in official and personal perceptions of Australia's economic prospects and values ​​as a British colony. Millennia fire stick management to help the hunter gathering has created the inland hinterland in the southeast that is ideal for fine wool production.
Both the recently described physical and official incentives increase the expectation of substantial profits to be made within the shepherding company and attract the growing flow of British capital in the form of organizations such as the Australian Agricultural Company (1824), granted the right to elect 1,000,000 acres 4,047 km2) in New South Wales for agricultural development; and new corporate settlements were established in Western Australia (1829) and South Australia (1836). By the 1830s, wool had taken over whale oil as the most important export in the colony, and by 1850 New South Wales had replaced Germany as a major overseas supplier to the British industry.
Allowing the complexity of colonial economic growth, the growth cycle based on settlement of land, exports and UK capital will be repeated twice. The first grazing blast ended with the worst depression during 1842-43. Although production continued to increase during the 1840s, the best soils have been occupied without large investments in fencing and water supply. Without further geographic expansion, opportunities for high profits are reduced and UK capital flows dry, contributing to a wider decline caused by drought and trade failures.
A number of London-based banks and mortgage companies were established during this period to operate in the colony, including Bank of Australasia (1835), Union Bank of Australia (1837), and Bank of England, Scotland and Australia (1852).
1850-60
The discovery of gold in 1851 caused gold rush in many parts of Australia and changed the course of the Australian economy. The discovery caused many workers to leave their jobs and go to the gold fields. The golden invasion led to the influx of people from abroad, including from many non-English sources. In the 1850s, Victoria was the center of Australian gold mining, whose population increased from 76,000 in 1851 to 540,000 in 1861. Australia's total population more than tripled from 430,000 in 1851 to 1.7 million in 1871. There was a continuation wool as a major provider of economic growth in 1860.
The colonial government initiated a "development strategy" by issuing bonds to the London market, selling public land and using this to fund infrastructure.
When gold is easily depleted in Victoria many people flood Melbourne or become unemployed pools in cities around Ballarat and Bendigo. The accelerated population growth and the tremendous wealth of gold fields triggered an explosion that lasted for forty years. Melbourne spread east and north over the surrounding flat meadows, and south on the east coast of Port Phillip. New rich suburbs grow, while the working class lives in the inner suburbs.
The entry of English-educated gold seekers led to the rapid growth of schools, churches, educated societies, libraries and art galleries. Behind the wealth that comes from gold, there is an explosion in building activity especially in Melbourne. Australia's first telegraph line was established between Melbourne and Williamstown in 1853. The first railway line in Australia was built in Melbourne in 1854. After merger in 1853, the University of Melbourne was built in 1855, and the State Library of Victoria in 1856. There are many other building works.
1860-75
Due to the increase in revenues caused by gold rush, the manufacturing and construction sectors of the economy have fared very well. Explosions triggered by gold and wool lasted during the 1860s and 70s. Victoria suffers from an acute shortage of labor despite the rising influx of immigrants, and this encourages wages until they become the highest in the world. Victoria is known as the "worker's paradise" in these years. United Stonemason won eight hours a day in 1856 and celebrated by building a huge Melbourne Trades Hall in Carlton.
The first Australian stock exchange opened in Melbourne in 1861.
In 1861, Crown Lands Acts 1861 (NSW) reformed land ownership in New South Wales in an attempt to break the dominance of squatters from land tenure. The Acts of the Apostles allows the unlimited selection of agricultural land in designated areas and over-creates the boundary of the location, which limits the sale of land to the Nineteenth State which has been in effect since 1826.
1875-80
As fertile land becomes less available to settlers, the pastoral industry continues to increase their land holdings for the use of wool production. This leads to a retraction of investment returns by pastoral companies. Even when poorer land is used for wool production purposes, there is continued investment from both private supporters, and the government (in the form of transport infrastructure).
Melbourne Trades Hall opened in 1859 with Trades and the Labor Council and Trades Halls opened in all cities and regional towns within the next forty years. During the 1880s Trade unions flourished among shavers, miners and port workers (dock workers), but soon spread to cover almost all blue-collar jobs. Labor shortages lead to high wages for the wealthy skilled working class, whose union demands and gets an eight-hour day and other benefits unheard of in Europe.
Australia gained a reputation as "the worker's paradise." Some employers try to weaken unions by importing Chinese labor. This produced a reaction that caused all the colonies to limit other Chinese and Asian immigration. This is the basis of the White Australia Policy. "Compact Australia", based around centralized industrial arbitrage, the level of government assistance especially for primary industry, and the Australian White, will continue for many years before it gradually dissolves in the second half of the 20th century.
1880-90
The explosion of investments in Australia in the 1880s increased economic expansion, despite the fact that investments provide less returns. This can be attributed to foreign funds becoming more available to Australia. The entry of this capital caused Australians to experience the highest per capita income in the world during the late 19th century.
However, in the late 1880s, overseas investors became more concerned with the difference between expected returns and actual results from Australian investments. The Barings Crisis of 1890, although focusing on Argentina, led to a reassessment of investor exposure to declining areas, and as a result British investors began to withdraw from further funding to the Australian market. This caused a banking crisis in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. As a result, the eastern colonies of Australia suffered severe depression in 1890-91. Australian economic historian Noel Butlin later argues that Australia's settlement history has been one of growth funded by foreign capital, punctuated by the depression caused by the balance of the payment crisis after the collapse of property prices and exacerbated by unwise use of capital.
The impact of the end of a long boom and the collapse of the property market in Melbourne has had little impact on the economy of Western Australia's colony, where large gold deposits were found in Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie in Western Australia, later known as 'Goldfields'. This prompted the 'Gold Rush' in Western Australia marked by a sustained and rapid expansion of the colony that will continue until the First World War. This expansion enabled the development of the Fremantle harbor, the opening of the colony's southwest corner for rapid agricultural development and colonial rail network expansion.
In the 1880s the long boom culminated in speculation and rapid inflation of land prices known as the Land Boom and centered in the city of Melbourne. The government shares wealth and plow money into urban infrastructure, especially railways. Great fortune was built on speculation, and Victorian business and politics became famous for corruption. British banks were lent freely to the colonial speculators, adding to the pile of debt on which the boom was built. After the collapse of Land Boom property values ​​in central Melbourne will not return to the level of the 1880s until the late 1950s (in real terms).
1890-1900
- 1890 - Great maritime strike
- 1891 - Australian predatory strike
- 1891 - 16 small banks and collapsed building communities in Melbourne
- 1892 - Damaged Hill Strikes
- 1892 - 133 limited companies enter into liquidation in Victoria alone
- 1893 - major international depression
- 1893 A speculative explosion in the Australian property market in the 1880s caused the Australian banking crisis in 1893. This was an environment where little government control or bank regulation had been established and led to the failure of 11 commercial banks, even the National Bank of Australasia.
- May 1st, 1893 - Victorian government imposes five-day bank holiday to deal with panic
- 1894 - The worst economic crisis is over and the task of rebuilding society begins. There are several regulatory and legal reforms with a view to preventing future misuse.
1900-39
- 1901 The first federal government established by the Protectionist Party.
- 1904 The Australian Labor Party forms a federal government. The first labor movement in the world to achieve government.
- The 1907 Harvester case - a court decision establishing the right to a basic wage - a 'fair and reasonable' minimum wage for unskilled workers 7/- (7 shillings).
In 1910, the federal government introduced the national currency, Australian pound. Monetary policy ensures that the Australian pound remains valuable to the pound sterling, and as long as England is at the gold standard, so does Australia. In 1914, pound sterling was removed from the gold standard, but when it was returned to the gold standard in 1925, a sudden increase in value (imposed by the price of nominal gold) released a devastating deflationary pressure. Both the initial inflation of 1914 and the 1926 deflation thereafter had far-reaching economic effects across the United Kingdom, Australia and the world. In 1929, as an emergency measure during the Great Depression, Australia abandoned the gold standard, resulting in a devaluation relative to sterling. The various pegs to sterling were applied until December 1931, when the government set the tariff Ã, Â £ 1 Australia = 16 shillings sterling (Ã, Â £ 1 Ã, Â ° 5 Australia = Ã, Â £ 1 sterling; A Â £ 1,25 = Ã, Â £ 1 sterling).
While wool growth remains the center of economic activity, new goods such as wheat, dairy products and other agriculture-based products are becoming part of Australia's export repertoire. It was in this period that the latter began to contribute more to economic growth than the production of wool. Part of the emergence of other sources of economic expansion comes from technological advances, such as disease-resistant wheat and refrigerated deliveries. It is also the development of this technology that renews large-scale foreign investment.
This injection of foreign investment led to an increase in construction, particularly in the private housing sector. The fact that the injection of foreign money is a major contributor to economic expansion is again complicating the Australian economy. Return on investment, as before, is very different from expected results.
In the 1920s, agricultural producers experienced profit and government problems, which invest heavily in transport infrastructure, did not get the benefits they expected. Reductions in lending, government and private spending in the late 1920s led to a recession. The recession itself is worse than international countries falling into a depression that not only reduces foreign investment to Australia but also causes lower demand for Australian exports. It culminated into the biggest recession in Australian history that culminated in 1931-1932.
The recession does not feel bad in Australia compared to its international counterparts, due to increased productivity from the manufacturing sector. (In William Sinclair [1] the term [2], this is where Australia moved from the old model to the new model.) Trade protection, especially from tariffs imposed by the government at the time, was instrumental to the prosperity of the manufacturing sector.
1939-72
The Second World War had a major impact on the Australian economy, and permanently changed the way the economy was run. Prior to 1939, the Federal Government of Australia had a marginal role in the management of the Australian economy. The state government collects most of the income tax, and Australian international trade is determined by its relationship with the United Kingdom. The Japanese attack on Australia in 1942 caused the Australian Government to adopt an "All in" war policy that dictates the full mobilization of the Australian economy and workforce. For this purpose various economic and industrial controls are adopted; rationing, production control, conscription and industry. These new powers are generally administered by the Federal Government assisted by government-appointed councils. The best example, and perhaps most successful, is the Commonwealth Commonwealth Council (CMB) that directs the expansion of the Australian ammunition industry. Led by Essington Lewis, General Manager of BHP, CMB at the end of the war indirectly manages some of the biggest manufacturing problems in the country.
The economic policy of the Labor Government of John Curtin greatly stimulated the economy by increasing production, and ending unemployment. Various industries, including; motor vehicles, metal processing, TCF (textiles, clothing and footwear) and chemicals, all benefited from government contracts and regulations, although in 1943 a severe shortage of workers limited the expansion of the industry further. High profits, and tight rationing of consumables lead to a rapid increase in national savings, and profits, which generate a surplus of domestic capital. To finance the war effort in 1942, the Australian Government instituted a Uniform Tax Law, and eliminated the ability of state governments to levy income taxes. The imposition of higher taxes, and the impulse of successive bonds, means that in 1945, the Australian Government has financed the war effort from domestic sources. So much so that in the post-war period soon Australia was able to expand economic aid to the UK. It also enabled Curtin's government to start planning a comprehensive post-war reconstruction plan.
Wartime measures and expanded wartime economics provided the basis for rapid economic growth in the period after 1945. Post-war economic reconstruction was also helped by a policy of determining national development pursued by the Australian Labor Party, or ALP, which formed the government from 1941 to 1949. This policy was in line with the general socialist ideals of the ALP at the time, and was widely supported in the wider labor movement. International conditions at that time also supported this policy after the war of Australia enjoyed favorable trade, and increased amount of foreign investment (mostly US) into the economy. However, even at this stage it is assumed that the agricultural and mining sectors will be directed to the international market while manufacturing will serve the domestic "consumer" market. In the 1950s and 1960s, it encouraged government policymakers to adopt "import replacement" strategies.
During the war of international trade and Australian investment position also began to change. In 1944 Australia became part of the Bretton Woods system with the world's major currencies keeping the exchange rate relatively relative to each other, and with the US dollar pegged to gold. Australia maintains a fixed exchange rate that is effectively pegged to sterling until 1967. The exchange rate between the Australian and British pounds is set at 0.8 GBP (16 shillings sterling, A £ 1.25 = Ã, £ 1 sterling). However, this new development did not completely replace traditional ties with Britain, and Australia remained a part of the "Sterling Zone" until 1967. This reflects Australia's historical relationship as well as a view of the stability of the British pound value, after brief periods of disruption caused by the Second World War, Britain returns to its position as Australia's main trading partner.
In 1949, the United Kingdom devalued pound sterling against the US dollar by 30%, and Australia followed it so that the Australian pound would not be too valuable in the sterling zone countries where Australia did most of its external trade at the time. Since the pound moved from US $ 4.03 to US $ 2.80, the Australian pound rose from US $ 3.224 to US $ 2.24. With respect to the pound sterling, the Australian pound stays the same at A £ 1.25 = Ã, £ 1 sterling.
With the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, Australia turned the traditional peg into a level that fluctuated against the US dollar. In September 1974, Australia appreciated the dollar against a basket of currencies called the trade weighted index (TWI) in an effort to reduce the fluctuations associated with its bonds with the US dollar. TWI's daily valuation was changed in November 1976 to a periodically adjusted valuation. On December 12, 1983, Australia floated the Australian dollar, with exchange rates reflecting the balance of payments and other market movers.
Soon after 1945, Australia continued to be governed by the ALP, which adopted a policy of reconstruction based on the principle of "nationalization and rationalization". This dictates that the government maintains control over the economic "reigning height" to continue economic growth, curb inflation and institutionalize full employment. A number of Australian companies such as QANTAS were nationalized during this period, while government-run companies such as TAA and ANL were formed to expand the government sector. In 1948 the Snowy Mountain River Project started. This policy achieved high economic growth, but led to the development of political opposition, especially after the failure of the government to nationalize the banking sector in 1948. Political enemies also made use of food rationing and gasoline retention. As a result, in 1949 the government was replaced in national elections with a more conservative government committed to supporting a "mixed economy".
The new Australian government, led by Liberal leader Robert Menzies, continues to regulate economic activity, but prefers to manage the economy "indirectly" whenever possible. More encouragement is given to private industry, but where public companies are considered "necessary" are maintained, and in some cases expanded. The pragmatic approach of the conservative Menzies Government is underlined by the formation of the Reserve Bank of Australia, the continuation of the mass immigration policy beginning in 1946, and the signing of new trade agreements with countries outside the British Empire, including Western Germany (1955), Japan (1957) and the Soviet Union (1965). In 1955 Australia began exporting coal to Japan, and in 1967 Japan had surpassed Britain as Australia's main market. Symbolic in 1966 Australia left the pound and adopted the Australian Dollar.
Economic growth, high employment rates, foreign investment growth and new market developments led Australia to enjoy a high level of economic prosperity in the postwar period. Rationing was abolished in 1950. High population growth, high government spending, television introduction (1956) and gradual relaxation of government control over "hire purchases" helped Australia to evolve into a prosperous society in the 1950s and 1960s. The increasing revenues from tax revenues finally allowed the Australian Government to fund a major expansion in higher education, Canberra's development, the nation's capital, and the hosting of the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. By the time of Sir Robert Menzies's retirement in 1966, the Australian economy seemed stronger and richer than ever.
The Australian Government in this period, dominated by Australia's conservative Liberal Party, largely managed to maintain economic growth and unemployment, but was criticized by opponents for failing to effectively control inflation, institutionalizing "extortion of credit" periodically (1952 and 1961), and rejecting economic planning national. During the 1960s, increased tariff protection for new industries protected jobs and profits, but reduced the need for productivity and innovation, and in 1966, foreign investment shifted to the less regulated mining and pastoral sector.
After 1967, the pleasant conditions Australia enjoyed in the international economy began to change. From 1962 the British increasingly abandoned the Imperial Preference system which was adopted in 1932 and moved towards membership of the European Economic Community. Australia's privileged access to the UK market is almost over. In the Vietnam War era, the US economy began to enter a difficult period, and the level of US investment into Australia began to decline. Even more intimidating, Australia is beginning to face greater economic competition and a decline in its trade. In this context the government following Menzies' government in the period 1966-1972 has become increasingly difficult to manage the rising expectations of consumers and industry.
In the period 1972-1973 Australia began to experience the beginning of "stagflation" as unemployment and inflation began to rise simultaneously for the first time.
1972-1982
The post-war economic boom ended with "stagflation" in the early 1970s. This is mainly due to the development of the international economy; Oil Crisis, UK entry into E.E.C., and increasing economic competition in Australian traditional export markets. However, the economic policies of the Whitlam ALP Government have not proved effective in the face of stagflation. Gough Whitlam has been selected on a platform that includes the rapid expansion of government-funded health and education programs. At the same time the labor movement, which the Labor Party is part of, is opposed to wage restrictions and economic restructuring. Higher government spending coupled with higher wages, but is not associated with higher productivity, creates strong inflationary pressures. Whitlam has no majority in the Australian Senate, and the hostility of the conservative state government makes it difficult to effectively manage the economy.
In 1973, with Australia experiencing sharp inflation, Fred Gruen, a special consultant for the Whitlam Government, proposed a 25% tariff cut across the board, adopted by the government. The 1973 oil crisis has caused a spike in prices and, according to government figures, inflation reached 13% for 1973-1974. In mid-1974, Australia was in an economic recession. Rapid changes in economic conditions are not countered by changes in government policy. In particular, Whitlam's desire to increase the wages and conditions of federal public services is not checked. This provided an increase in imports by 30% and an increase in trade deficit of $ 1.5 billion by the end of 1974. Major commodity producers such as beef caught under credit pressure because short-term interest rates rose to a very high level. Unemployment also increased significantly even though government spending continued.
The Whitlam Government's failure to effectively manage the Australian economy was a factor in the crisis that ended the government's office term at the end of 1975. The successful government of Whitlock's Malcolm Fraser promised greater control over government spending, and an end to an increase in inflationary pay in the public sector. However, its close ties with industry and trade make it reluctant to institutionalize economic reform. While more and more economists and business leaders are starting to call for economic deregulation, the Fraser Government prefers to promote policies similar to those adopted in the earlier postwar period; especially wage and credit control, and more stringent regulation of the economy of the government's economy. This was represented in 1982 when Fraser dismissed the findings of the Campbell Commission into Banking (whose government has done) which has recommended the deregulation of the banking industry.
1983-present
Economic liberalization and deregulation of the Australian economy began in the early 1980s under the Hawke Labor Government, which began the process of economic reform by summing up wages in accordance with the trade union movement. In return for wage restraints and increased "social wages", the trade union movement agreed to support economic reforms and challenge industrial conflicts (ie strikes). The success of the "Agreement" allows the Labor Government to carry out economic reforms in which other countries have been implemented by conservative political parties; tariffs are increasingly cut, the Australian dollar drifts (1983), and the regulated financial system. Hawke was also able to privatize several large government companies. The sectoral 'Industrial Plan' for economic reform is introduced in the field of telecommunications and manufacturing. Commonwealth Bank was sold in three parcels between 1991 and 1996. Qantas was sold in two parcels, one in 1993 and the other in 1995, and the Commonwealth Serum Laboratory was launched in 1994. Telstra was sold in three parcels in 1997, 1999 and 2006 One of the outcomes of this reform is the real increase in labor productivity, and the reduction of government spending as a proportion of GDP. The Australian Stock Exchange Limited (ASX) was established in 1987 through the merger of six independent stock exchanges previously operating in the nation's capital. Each exchange has a history of stock trading since the 19th century.
The global recession of the early 1990s came quickly after Black Monday in October 1987, resulting from an unprecedented stock-size collapse that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average fall 22.6%. This collapse, bigger than the fall of the stock market in 1929, was handled effectively by the global economy, and the stock market began to recover quickly. However, in North America, the slow saving and lending industries are facing a setback that ultimately leads to a savings and loan crisis that jeopardizes the well-being of millions of Americans. The following recession affects many countries closely linked to the United States, including Australia. Paul Keating, who was prime minister at the time, famously called it "the recession Australia must have." During the recession, GDP fell 1.7%, employment by 3.4% and unemployment rose to 10.8%. However, as is typical during the recession, there is a favorable inflation reduction.
This process of economic reform and restructuring continued under the Coalition Government led by John Howard who took power in 1996. The Howard Government established the goods and services tax from 2000, established the National Productivity Commission, and further deregulated the labor market under WorkChoices on 2006. The result of the economic reform process is that Australia is now one of the most open economies in the world. It enjoys more than two decades of economic growth, coupled with low inflation and relatively low unemployment.
The 1980s economic reform, intended to diversify the national economy and make it more resilient, was introduced after the mid-1980s decline in terms of trade. The tendency of Australian gross domestic product to the market price estimated by the International Monetary Fund is as follows:
For a parity power purchase comparison, US $ is redeemed at A $ 0.98. Australia has recently received financial growth in the mining industry. This has been a major factor of the high Australian dollar.
In 2008, four companies produced mass cars in Australia. Mitsubishi halted production in March 2008, followed by Ford in 2016, and Holden and Toyota in 2017.
Holden announced on December 11, 2013 that Holden cars will no longer be produced in Australia from the end of 2017.
Ford has two main factories, both in Victoria: located on the outskirts of Geelong in Norlane and the outskirts of Broadmeadows north of Melbourne. Both factories closed in October 2016.
Until 2006, Toyota had factories in Port Melbourne and Altona, Victoria. Since then, all manufacturers have been in Altona. In 2008, Toyota exported 101,668 vehicles worth $ 1,900 million. In 2011 the number was "59,949 units valued at $ 1,004 million". On February 10, 2014 it was announced that by the end of 2017 Toyota will stop manufacturing vehicles and engines in Australia.
Until trade liberalization in the mid-1980s, Australia had a large textile industry. This decline continues until the first decade of the 21st century. Since the 1980s, tariffs have continued to decline; in early 2010, tariffs were reduced from 17.5 percent to 10 percent in clothing, and 7.5 to 10 percent to 5 percent for footwear and other textiles. In 2010, most of the textile manufacturing, even by Australian companies, was done in Asia.
See also
- Agriculture in Australia
- The Australian economy
- Banking in Australia
- Car button design
- Snowy Mountains Scheme
- Whaling in Australia
References
Source
- Butlin, N. G. (1964). Investment in Australian Economic Development . Cambridge University Press.
- Coghlan, T A (1918). Workers and Industry in Australia , Cambridge Books, Cambridge.
- Fitzpatrick, B (1939). British and Australian Imperialism: 1783-1833 , Sydney University Press, Sydney.
- Fitzpatrick, B (1941). United Kingdom in Australia: Economic History 1834-1939 , Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
- McLean, Ian W (2016). Why Australia Is Entitled: The Source of Economic Growth Movement , Princeton U.P.
- Reid, Alan (1976), The Whitlam Venture , Hill of Content, ISBN 0-85572-079-4
- Sinclair, W. A. ​​(1976). Economic Development Process in Australia . Melbourne: Cheshire.
- Snooks, G.D. (1994). Family Portrait in Total Economics, Australia Since 1788 . Cambridge University Press.
Further reading
- Millmow, Alex. History of Australasian Economic Thought (Routledge, 2017), online review 250 pp.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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