Premium
MEASURING INEQUALITY TRENDS IN COLONIAL AUSTRALIA USING FACTOR–PRICE RATIOS: THE IMPORTANCE OF BOUNDARIES
Author(s) -
Shanahan Martin P.,
Wilson John K.
Publication year - 2007
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.1467-8446.2006.00194.x
Subject(s) - inequality , colonialism , argument (complex analysis) , globalization , wage inequality , economics , renting , economic inequality , wage , development economics , demographic economics , economic geography , economy , geography , labour economics , political science , market economy , archaeology , law , mathematical analysis , biochemistry , chemistry , mathematics
Previous research on nineteenth century globalisation argues that during the second half of that century wage–rental ratios in labour scarce, land‐abundant new world economies decreased. This suggests inequality rose in the new world. Australia has been cited as a conspicuous example of this trend. The paper re‐examines this argument using disaggregated land and wage data for four Australian colonies. We reveal large regional differences in both factor–price levels and trends – something that has been overlooked when discussing Australian colonial inequality and we suggest that regional disparities in other nineteenth century economies are also likely to be important.