Long‐Run Trends in Australian Executive Remuneration: BHP, 1887–2012

Outside the United States, little is known of long‐run trends in executive compensation. We fill this gap by studying BHP Billiton, a resources giant that has long been one of the largest companies on the Australian stock market. From 1887 to 2012, trends in CEO and director remuneration (relative to average earnings) follow a U‐shape. This matches the pattern for US executive compensation, Australian top incomes, and (for the past two decades) average trends in executive compensation in top Australian firms. Like the United States, Australia experienced a post‐war ‘great compression’ prior to the recent ‘great divergence’.     

AUSTRALIA'S SMOKE CITY: AIR POLLUTION IN NEWCASTLE

The City of Newcastle has been viewed as marginal to the main narratives of Australian history, despite its contribution to industrial development being likened in importance to that of a Pittsburgh or Birmingham. A focus on visible air pollution makes it possible to reposition Newcastle as the centre of environmental innovation, largely because of the knowledge gathered by Novocastrians about smoke abatement in the Anglo-American industrial cities upon which it modelled itself. The reduction of smoke in Newcastle since World War II is attributed partially to the City Council activities, but also to the displacement of pollution elsewhere, both within Australia and to the Asian cities to which coal is exported.     

MEASURING INEQUALITY TRENDS IN COLONIAL AUSTRALIA USING FACTOR–PRICE RATIOS: THE IMPORTANCE OF BOUNDARIES

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.     

IDEAS FROM AUSTRALIAN CITIES: RELOCATING URBAN AND SUBURBAN HISTORY

This article draws on preliminary research into the social history of Melbourne, on the ways that suburban life in the post-World War II era provides both explanation and counterweight to persistently negative stereotypes of suburbia. Over recent decades, suburban histories have been eschewed in favour of historical reconsiderations of the inner city or the bush. The history of the Australian suburb, particularly since 1945, is yet to be written. Oral history and municipal archives will be crucial to the writing of such histories. The article suggests several research pathways, including intergenerational life stories, a wider scale of geographical analysis, and a subtler reading of cultural conformity and social differentiation.     

Accounting History in Australia: A Survey of Published Works, 1975–99

Research in accounting history has expanded significantly in recent years. This paper reviews the recent development of accounting history in Australia through an examination of the relevant literature while recognizing the wider influence of Australian scholars in the international community of accounting historians. The survey is confined to works on Australian accounting history published in the period of 25 years between 1975 and 1999. These works are discussed using the literature classification framework provided by Carnegie and Napier (1996). Reviewing the literature in this way is expected to be of benefit to historians in general, particularly economic and business historians, and also accounting historians, while future directions for accounting history research in Australia are outlined following a brief critique of the literature examined.     

THE SUPPLY OF ECONOMIC HISTORY IN AUSTRALASIA: THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW AT 50

In 2010, the Australian Economic History Review published its 50th volume. To mark the occasion, we present a quantitative analysis of the output of economic and business history that has appeared in its pages since 1956, and review the development of the discipline through its journal editors. Content was until recently overwhelmingly focused on Australia and New Zealand economic and business history, despite the efforts of past editors to attract more scholarship on the wider Asia‐Pacific region. Articles on Asia and the rest of the world have become more common since the late 1990s.     

Trade Policy in Canada and Australia in the Twentieth Century

The paper provides an analytical comparison of the evolution of trade policy in Canada and Australia and of the two countries' roles in international trade diplomacy. Despite similarities in history and resource endowment, these roles have differed substantially, especially during the third quarter of the twentieth century. The focus is on the reasons why Canadian and Australian attitudes and policies differed so markedly. The importance of the USA as a trading partner, differing economic experiences during the decade of the 1920s, and the more concentrated composition of Australian exports all played a part. Once in train, the position that Australia was different and need not participate in GATT tariff cuts as long as agriculture was excluded became the inertial position, while Canada played an active role in GATT's early development. After 1973 Australia's position as an outlier among high-income countries' trade policies was reversed, and Australian and Canadian trade policies again became similar in the 1980s.     

COMMODITY PRICE SHOCKS AND THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY SINCE FEDERATION*

Australia has experienced frequent and large commodity export price shocks similar to commodity exporters in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, but this price volatility has had much more modest impact on economic performance. 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 impact on de‐industrialisation and distribution during the booms, and the labour market and policy responses to the shocks. Australia has indeed responded differently to volatile commodity prices than have other commodity exporters.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Donald Denoon and Philippa Mein-Smith with Marivic Wyndham, A history of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific
John A. Mathews and Dung-Sung Cho, Tiger technology: the creation of a semiconductor industry in East Asia
Simon Ville, The rural entrepreneurs: a history of the stock and station agent industry in Australia and New Zealand
John Booker and Russell Craig, John Croaker: convict embezzler
Marion Diamond, Emigration and Empire: the life of Maria S. Rye
Granville Allen Mawer, Ahab's trade: the saga of South Seas whaling
Ann Millar, ed., The biographical dictionary of the Australian Senate
Lena Andersson-Skog and Olle Krantz, eds, Institutions in the transport and communications industries: state and private actors in the making of institutional patterns, 1850–1990
Maxine Berg and Kristine Bruland, eds, Technological revolutions in Europe: historical perspectives     

AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRATION ARCHIVES AS SOURCES FOR BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

The administration and control of immigration to Australian during the twentieth century produced a huge archive of records of individual migrants that have potential for innovative approaches to the business and economic history of ethnic minority groups. This article describes some of these records, which have mostly been used by amateur family historians, focused on those related to Chinese immigrants before the World War II and Southern Europeans immigrants after 1945. The article gives examples of how these records can be used, suggests potential research projects, and discusses briefly some of the guides available. Several images of these archival documents are reproduced.     

The transformation of Australian economic and social history

This article reviews the first four books published in a new Australian series entitled ‘Themes in Australian Economic and Social History’. These volumes include: A. Dingle, Aboriginal economy: patterns of experience; R.V. Jackson, The population history of Australia; W. Bate, Victorian gold rushes; A.L. Lougheed, Australia and the world economy. The series is edited by C.B. Schedvin in association with the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand and is published by McPhee Gribble Publishers, Melbourne. Each attractively presented book is approximately seventy pages long and is priced at $9.99. Further volumes in this series have been commissioned.     

BIG QUESTIONS IN AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY: FROM THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN1

The conventional story of Australian economic history is worth challenging. Rather than just assuming a national economy with conventional turning points such as Federation, economic historians would do well to investigate more complex processes like the interplay between regions, races and development, and the changing patterns of interaction with the outside world. The big question for economic historians is whether in the future they can undertake economic research which informs history and so contributes to the national debate.     

Work and Wages at a Melbourne Factory,the Guest Biscuit Works 1870–1921

The story of wages in nineteenth‐ and early twentieth‐century Australia has largely been told through official published statistics and the experiences of skilled artisans and construction labourers. Utilising wage book data from an early successful manufacturing plant – a biscuit factory – we reveal the earning histories of several neglected groups of Australian workers. We specifically investigate the effects of the 1890s depression, the introduction of a wages board, and shifting demographics on the wages of unskilled factory hands, women, juvenile workers, and commercial clerks. We demonstrate that typical Australian wage series studies have misinterpreted the impact of these phenomena.     

INTRODUCTION: MINING HISTORY IN CONTEXT

This article introduces the theme and the articles in this special issue of the Australian Economic History Review on mining history. It puts the subject of the articles in the context of current changes in the global mining industry and notes the themes that may be explored in further research.     

John Maynard Keynes and the Keynes of the Commonwealth,Douglas Copland

When Douglas Copland of the University of Melbourne was about to go abroad in 1933, a leading Australian businessman, Herbert Gepp, hailed him as the ‘Keynes of the Commonwealth’. Gepp was referring to Copland's contributions to Australian economic policy, not that of the British Commonwealth, but there were similarities between Copland and John Maynard Keynes. In full flight, Copland impressed his compatriots with his prodigious work ethic, networking skills, persuasive powers with policy-makers, and practice of popularising economics in order to effect stabilisation policy. For a short time, there were two Keynes, one at the centre, the other at the periphery.     

Australian and American Settler Capitalism: The Importance of a Comparison and its Curious Neglect

Why is Australia so little known about and studied in the United States when prima facie it is one of the best comparators for America; and why do Australian comparativists often ignore the American case? The discourse of difference has predominated in America rather than the discourse of similarity. But in Australia the opposite has been true. Here an equally powerful theme has been one of searching for comparisons, similarities, and generalities between Australia and other nations and societies. Through thinking about answers to these questions, partly via a discussion of some recent writing on America and Australia, this essay argues a case for the necessity for comparison within a world history perspective. More particularly, it argues that American intellectuals and journalists should pay more attention to comparators like Australia since its similarity with America affords valuable insights into American history, politics, economy, society, and institutions, just as the converse has proven to be valuable.     

The Evolution of an Intellectual Community Through the Words of Its Founders: Recollections of Australia's Economic History Field

Analysing the dynamic evolution of a scholarly field requires an understanding of the social interactions within its community as well as the impact of the written word. Influence might diffuse through mentoring, graduate supervision, seminar discussion, and management roles. To date, our knowledge of the growth of economic history in Australia after 1945 draws heavily upon the impact of a number of key publications. We interview a broad selection of academics who worked in the field of Australian economic history, approximately 1950–90, to provide a fuller understanding of the evolution of this interdisciplinary field. Our results confirm, complement and, in some cases, challenge conventional views. © 2016 Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd     

The Market Gardens of Dark Dragon Ridge,New South Wales,Australia, 1876–1930

Long neglected within Eurocentric histories of Australian agriculture, a clearer view of Chinese market gardening in Australia has been emerging over recent decades. As a contribution to this ongoing work, this paper explores Chinese market gardens in Wollongong (known as Dark Dragon Ridge in Chinese), 70 km south of Sydney, between 1876 and 1930. Using a microhistorical framework with an emphasis on business and labour, and guided chiefly by gardeners' own accounts of their activities, I offer new insights into Chinese market gardening. This approach can, I conclude, markedly enhance understanding of this aspect of Australia's past.     

体系转型背景下的威胁认知与澳大利亚对华政策变化

2000年以来,中澳关系在一个比较长的时期中保持了良好发展态势。但自2016—2018年,中澳关系出现较大幅度恶化,这主要是澳大利亚主动采取消极行为的结果。在中国不构成对澳大利亚的安全威胁、双方的经济合作为澳大利亚带来很大经济利益、中方具有推动中澳关系发展意愿的情况下,澳大利亚在2016年和2017年的对华态度却发生了转折性变化,这令人困惑。作者认为,澳大利亚对华态度转变的主要原因不是美国对澳大利亚施加的战略压力,而是澳大利亚在不确定性增强的国际体系中高度重视国际秩序的稳定,并把中国视为可能冲击现有国际秩序稳定性的主要国家。随着2018年美国特朗普政府采取了一系列冲击国际秩序特别是国际经贸秩序稳定性的做法,澳大利亚在一定程度上改变了对冲击国际秩序的主要国家的认识,其对华政策也相应做出调整。这使得中澳关系出现新的发展契机。这一分析有助于更好地认知一些安全、经济环境较好的中等强国的国际行为,为中澳关系的改善提供一种思考路径。     

Relief During the Great Depression in Australia and America

I compare and contrast relief efforts by governments in response to the extraordinary unemployment of the Great Depression in the US and Australia. The effectiveness of relief spending in America at the local level is discussed using recent studies estimating the relationship between relief spending and various demographic measures. I develop a new panel data set for the Australian states from 1929 through 1939. Increased income in manufacturing and rural production were associated with lower infant mortality rates and death rates and higher fertility rates. In contrast to the US experience, however, higher per capita relief spending was associated with lower birth rates.