TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bhattacharyya,Sambit
AU  - Williamson,Jeffrey G.
TI  - Commodity Price Shocks and the Australian Economy since Federation
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14694
PY  - 2009
Y2  - January 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14694
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14694.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Sambit Bhattacharyya
Australian National University
HW Arndt Building, ANU
Canberra ACT, 2601, Australia
E-Mail: sambit.bhattacharyya@anu.edu.au

Jeffrey G. Williamson
350 South Hamilton Street #1002
Madison, WI 53703
Tel: 608-441-0023
Fax: 608-204-0783
E-Mail: jwilliam@fas.harvard.edu
AB  - 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?
ER  -