NEW ESTIMATES OF AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC BORROWING AND CAPITAL RAISED IN LONDON, 1849–1914

Current statistics of Australian public borrowing to 1914 suffer from several limits. On the basis of a comprehensive revision, an upward bias is shown in all the alternative time series of London borrowing, while statistics of local bond issues are derived for the first time. The new time series show the importance of the initial borrowing cycle during the 1850s and 1860s; the scale of debt repatriation from the mid-1890s; the interaction between domestic and overseas borrowing before the 1880s; and the potential significance of remittance as an 'invisible stabiliser' of the exchanges and alternative indirect source of capital imports.