Australian Public and Private Capital Formation, 1901–75*

We present new estimates of Australian public capital formation as a reasonably consistent time series for 1901 to 1975 and comment on some issues they raise. The series is disaggregated by level of government and by function and separates public enterprises from other junctions. Primarily because we recognize internal funding of capital formation by public enterprises the new estimates differ quite radically from existing estimates. After 1930 the government share of total capital formation declined from a traditional average of one half to less than 40 per cent. Associated with this relative restraint since the early 1950s were an increasingly ‘business-like’ management of public enterprise and a growing pressure on the private sector to provide additional infra-structure.