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The Rise and Fall of Exceptional Australian Incomes Since 1800

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  • David Greasley
  • Jakob B. Madsen

Abstract

We gauge how productivity and factor endowments shaped the rise and fall of Australia’s exceptional incomes. New measures of TFP, which include natural resource inputs, are utilized in an accounting of income growth. Further, the drivers of TFP growth are explored. Pastoralism and mining had negative TFP externalities, and we incorporate these finding into a unified accounting of incomes which distinguishes the roles of endowments and productivity. Nevertheless, TFP growth played an important role in promoting exceptional incomes between 1842-1890. Our findings favour a more balanced interpretation of Australian growth that has roles for natural resources, labour participation and productivity.
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  • David Greasley & Jakob B. Madsen, 2017. "The Rise and Fall of Exceptional Australian Incomes Since 1800," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57(3), pages 264-290, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ozechr:v:57:y:2017:i:3:p:264-290
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    Cited by:

    1. Laura Panza & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2019. "Always Egalitarian? Australian Earnings Inequality c1870," CEH Discussion Papers 01, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    2. Mubashir Qasim & Les Oxley & Eoin McLaughlin, 2020. "Genuine savings as a test of New Zealand weak sustainability," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 89-127, January.
    3. Laura Panza & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2021. "Always egalitarian? Australian earnings inequality 1870–1910," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(2), pages 228-246, July.
    4. Greasley, David & McLaughlin, Eoin & Hanley, Nick & Oxley, Les, 2017. "Australia: a land of missed opportunities?," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(6), pages 674-698, December.
    5. Mubashir Qasim & Arthur Grimes, 2018. "Sustainable economic policy and well-being: The relationship between adjusted net savings and subjective well-being," Working Papers 18_06, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    6. Kym Anderson, 2022. "Structural transformation in growing open economies: Australia’s experience," Departmental Working Papers 2022-13, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    7. Kym Anderson, 2023. "Why did agriculture’s share of Australian GDP not decline for a century?," Departmental Working Papers 2023-09, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N1 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations
    • N5 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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