Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Preface
- 1 Introduction, themes and overview
- Part I Before 1914
- Part II 1914 to 1940
- Part III 1941 to 1973
- 7 International impacts on Australia, 1941–73
- 8 War and reconstruction in Australia, 1941–59
- 9 A booming economy
- Part IV 1974 to the 1990s
- Part V Since the 1990s
- Statistical appendix
- Glossary of economic terms
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
9 - A booming economy
Australia and the world economy, 1960–73
from Part III - 1941 to 1973
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Preface
- 1 Introduction, themes and overview
- Part I Before 1914
- Part II 1914 to 1940
- Part III 1941 to 1973
- 7 International impacts on Australia, 1941–73
- 8 War and reconstruction in Australia, 1941–59
- 9 A booming economy
- Part IV 1974 to the 1990s
- Part V Since the 1990s
- Statistical appendix
- Glossary of economic terms
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
By the end of the 1950s, the post-war strategies for economic growth and development in Australia seemed to be working. Full employment had been achieved and economic growth in the second half of the decade averaged 4 per cent. Inflation remained low at 3 per cent and the current account deficit remained manageable at around 3 per cent of GDP (see Tables 9.1 and 9.2). Home loan interest rates were steady at 5 per cent. The industrial infrastructure had expanded rapidly during the 1950s, as had manufacturing output and employment. One-quarter of the workforce was now employed in manufacturing. Exports were booming (even if not at the rate of world trade) and the 1957 trade treaty with Japan looked likely to underpin primary exports into the future (Pinkstone 1992, pp. 167–8, 188–9). The instability of the late 1940s and early 1950s appeared to have been left behind. Australia was a successful, industrialising economy, one that was highly attractive to foreign capital and European migrants alike – both of which poured into the country at unprecedented rates. This chapter is concerned with the outcome of post-war strategies for economic development in Australia and the performance of the economy during the latter stages of the ‘Long Boom’.
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- Australia in the Global EconomyContinuity and Change, pp. 198 - 228Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012