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RECOVERY FROM DEPRESSION: AUSTRALIA IN AN ARGENTINE MIRROR 1895–1913
Author(s) -
McLean Ian W.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
australian economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.493
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1467-8446
pISSN - 0004-8992
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8446.2006.00179.x
Subject(s) - boom , depression (economics) , exchange rate , debt , economics , economic recovery , economy , monetary economics , keynesian economics , finance , oceanography , geology
The recovery from the 1890s depression in Australia was prolonged, and economic growth from 1895 to 1913 was below that in the comparable settler economies of Argentina and Canada. Why? Australia’s hesitant initial recovery is typically attributed to the imbalances in the economy resulting from the preceding boom, and its further delay to severe drought. Drawing on Argentine experience, it is suggested that additional factors need to be considered. Unlike Argentina, the unwillingness or inability of Australian governments to reschedule foreign debt or devalue the exchange rate exacerbated the slump. And the era of low‐cost pioneer farming ended earlier than in Argentina (or Canada).