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Australian Governments and Automotive Manufacturing, 1919‐1939
Author(s) -
Conlon R.M.,
Perkins John
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8497.00071
Subject(s) - commonwealth , tariff , economic rent , automotive industry , bureaucracy , government (linguistics) , backlash , outcome (game theory) , revenue , economics , business , economic policy , market economy , international economics , political science , finance , politics , engineering , law , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , mathematical economics , aerospace engineering
In recent years the progressive lowering of tariff barriers in Australia has produced a predictable backlash from those who are directly affected. The reaction, however, extends to academics and others who have no pecuniary interest in the outcome, and who have argued that the tariff represented a policy consciously designed to promote the economic development and defence capacity of this country. On the basis of experience in the motor vehicle industry, we argue that these factors had very little to do with interwar tariff policy. Rather, it was the outcome of an interplay between the Commonwealth government’s need for revenue, the activities of “the lobby” in seeking rents, and the practices of the Customs bureaucracy.