Cliometric Contributions to Australia’s Economic History

Application of cliometric techniques to Australian economic history began in earnest in the 1970s and 1980s and has been used to provide insights into some of the country’s most significant historical episodes and enduring characteristics. Over recent decades, the expansion of academic work employing these approaches has accelerated, and this, in part, is due to the increasing availability of large, historical data sets that have been laboriously compiled from various official records. However, more of these types of data sets are needed in order for further econometric analysis to be undertaken. As a result of the lack of these data sets, some of the more nuanced periods of Australian economic history have, to date, been overlooked by scholars. Nevertheless, the existing cliometric literature provides clear, dominant themes that have emerged over time. These themes include the examination of the convict economy, Australia’s exceptional growth, the impact of commodity and mineral booms on the Australian economy, the country’s demographic exceptionalism, and the nature of its labor markets. This chapter is organized around those themes in order to tease out the various contributions of cliometrics to Australian economic history.