The Economic Performance of the States and Territories of Australia: 1861–1992

This paper examines the economic performance of the States and Territories of Australia from 1861 to 1992. Original estimates of real per capita output for each State are constructed and used to determine whether, for selected periods, the material standards of living of the States converged. Whilst the data suggest that this was the case for the selected subperiods up to the mid 1970s, it appears that from this period the per capita income gap between the richest and poorest States probably widened. The most important factor driving this phenomenon is the ability of States to successfully adapt to national and international sectoral changes.