Implications for Australia of Cross-Country Comparisons in Economic Performance*

What can be learnt about the economic experience of Australia in the 1970s by comparing the performances of other countries with that of Australia? In particular, what do those comparisons suggest about the nature of and reasons for, the Australian outcomes for prices, production and employment? These are the main questions addressed in this paper. In Section II, comparisons are made for several indicators between the experiences of Australia and nine other countries. In Section III the outcomes are analyzed and in Section IV some implications for Australia are drawn.