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The Australian Post-War Economy: A Study in Economic Administration*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Douglas Copland
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Extract

Australia emerged from the war with low costs, a high level of London funds, favourable terms of trade, and improved efficiency stimulated by the war effort. All these were substantial assets in the immediate post-war period but there were also certain handicaps, themselves also the product of the war. For one thing the economy was greatly under-capitalized. This was due in part to a low rate of capital formation in the years immediately preceding the war, and secondly to a deliberate policy developed during the war of concentrating entirely upon capital formation that would have a direct bearing on the war effort. Apart from a serious shortage of capital equipment in industry and defects in the transport system, there was a great lag in housing construction. In addition, certain specialized industries had been developed during the war, and it was doubtful whether these could be continued in the post-war circumstances. Then finally there was the heavy task of making a swift and smooth transition from a war economy to a peace economy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , November 1954 , pp. 421 - 438
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1954

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Footnotes

*

This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association in Winnipeg, June 2, 1954.

It is to a considerable extent based upon a more lengthy treatment of the problem in a paper read before the American Philosophical Society in November, 1953, and published in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XCVIII, no. 2, April, 1954. I have dealt in more detail with some of the matters relating to Australia's membership of the sterling area in a pamphlet published by Princeton University—Problems of the Sterling Area with Special Reference to Australia (Sept., 1953). I have dealt with a number of problems relating to the lack of balance in the economy in the immediate post-war years, to the wool levy, to currency appreciation and related matters in Expansion and Inflation; Essays on the Australian Economy (Melbourne: Cheshire, 1951). The classic analysis of the working of the Australian economy is to be found in the report of the Committee on the Tariff referred to in the text and published under the title The Australian Tariff: An Economic Enquiry (Melbourne University Press, 1929). As regards the controversy surrounding full employment I refer the reader to the Godkin Lectures at Harvard in 1945, published under the title The Road to High Employment (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1945). The Economic Record, the journal of the Economic Society of Australia and New Zealand, published twice yearly by the Melbourne University Press, has much relevant material on the whole of the period.

Throughout the paper, figures for values have been given in Australian currency.

References

* This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association in Winnipeg, June 2, 1954.

It is to a considerable extent based upon a more lengthy treatment of the problem in a paper read before the American Philosophical Society in November, 1953, and published in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XCVIII, no. 2, April, 1954. I have dealt in more detail with some of the matters relating to Australia's membership of the sterling area in a pamphlet published by Princeton University—Problems of the Sterling Area with Special Reference to Australia (Sept., 1953). I have dealt with a number of problems relating to the lack of balance in the economy in the immediate post-war years, to the wool levy, to currency appreciation and related matters in Expansion and Inflation; Essays on the Australian Economy (Melbourne: Cheshire, 1951). The classic analysis of the working of the Australian economy is to be found in the report of the Committee on the Tariff referred to in the text and published under the title The Australian Tariff: An Economic Enquiry (Melbourne University Press, 1929). As regards the controversy surrounding full employment I refer the reader to the Godkin Lectures at Harvard in 1945, published under the title The Road to High Employment (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1945). The Economic Record, the journal of the Economic Society of Australia and New Zealand, published twice yearly by the Melbourne University Press, has much relevant material on the whole of the period.

Throughout the paper, figures for values have been given in Australian currency.