Commodity Price Shocks and the Australian Economy since Federation

Sambit Bhattacharyya, Jeffrey G. Williamson

NBER Working Paper No. 14694
Issued in January 2009
NBER Program(s):   DAE

Even though Australia has experienced frequent and large commodity export price shocks like the Third World, it seems to have dealt with the volatility better. Why? This paper explores Australian terms of trade volatility since 1901. It identifies two major price shock episodes before the recent mining-led boom and bust. It assesses their relative magnitude, their de-industrialization and distributional impact, and policy responses. In what way has Australia been different from other commodity exporters experiencing volatile prices?

(228 K)

Published: Sambit Bhattacharyya & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2011. "Commodity Price Shocks And The Australian Economy Since Federation," Australian Economic History Review, Wiley Blackwell Asia Pty Ltd and the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(2), pages 150-177, 07.

This paper is available as PDF (228 K) or via email.

Acknowledgments

Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX