Measurement and International Comparison

Abstract

It is often taken for granted that Australia’s recent economic growth performance has been very poor. The presumption is that not only has Australia performed badly in comparison with ‘success-story’ countries such as Japan or the newly industrialised Asian countries, but it has also lagged behind other developed countries in the OECD group. Discussions on this topic, especially in the popular Press, generally take this proposition to be self-evident, and proceed to apportion the blame among a variety of possible causes. In the context of this conference, however, it is important to re-examine the basis for this assumption and assess its validity. That is the purpose of this chapter.

The authors wish to thank Ian Castles, Bruce Chapman, Fred Gruen and Bryan Haig for many helpful comments. The paper has also benefited from suggestions made by participants of an Australian National University workshop and a seminar at the University of Adelaide. The usual caveat applies, however. Thanks are due to Kim Chohan and Eva Klug for research assistance and Marti Pascall and Tina Nalty for typing.