Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Tarmac Economist

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Gypsy Economist

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought ((PHET))

  • 218 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter looks at Colin Clark as one of the first international consulting economists in what became the new field of development economics. He continued to refute neo-Malthusian beliefs that had captivated post-war British and American minds noting how agricultural productivity was rising annually due to modern methods of cultivation and greater than the increase in global population. The shortage of food was due to a lack of labour, not land. He accused agriculturally bountiful countries, such as Australia and Argentina of needlessly starving their agrarian sectors of resources by engaging in ill-advised industrialisation policies which contributed to a worldwide shortage of food. Clark resigned from the Queensland Government in 1952 because it did not share his views on decentralisation and the promotion of primary industry. In Australia he became a voice in the wilderness as he publicly lamented the over-development of manufacturing, fiscal federalism and the imposition quantitative import controls in 1952. Oxford came to his salvation in the same year.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    ‘Poverty Stricken Soviet Russia’, Worker, 27/10/1947.

  2. 2.

    ‘Soviets a Backward Country’, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 22/8/1949.

  3. 3.

    ‘Clark’s Nonsense or Wavell’s Facts’, Tribune, 26/11/1949.

  4. 4.

    Durbin to Clark 6/8/1948, Clark Papers, Brasenose.

  5. 5.

    Clark to M. Clark 20/11/1947, Clark family letters.

  6. 6.

    Dalton to Clark 10/1/1946, Clark Papers, Brasenose.

  7. 7.

    Clark to M. Clark 20/11/1947, Clark family letters.

  8. 8.

    Ibid.

  9. 9.

    A. Prest to W. Prest 1/12/1947, Prest Papers, UMA.

  10. 10.

    Clark to M. Clark 30/11/1947, Clark family letters.

  11. 11.

    ‘Lower Living Standard’, The West Australian (Perth), 22/12/1947.

  12. 12.

    ‘Scientists Will Pool Their Knowledge at UN Conference’, SMH 19/8/1949.

  13. 13.

    ‘UN Honours Colin Clark’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 9/2/1949.

  14. 14.

    James Rorty ‘Hunger Is Obsolete’ Commentary, February 1950.

  15. 15.

    ‘Beef and Butter Could Earn Dollars’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 19/2/1952.

  16. 16.

    ‘The Farmer Must Be Given New Standing’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 24/8/1949.

  17. 17.

    ‘Colin Clark Finds World Still Hungry’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 4/8/1950.

  18. 18.

    ‘Mr Clark on Loan’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 18/7/1951.

  19. 19.

    ‘Governments Attacked by Colin Clark’, Warwick Daily News, 19/1/1952.

  20. 20.

    ‘Nation Off Track’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 19/1/1952.

  21. 21.

    ‘Link with Grazier Russell Denied’, Truth (Brisbane), 13/1/1952.

  22. 22.

    Tribune, 27/2/1952.

  23. 23.

    ‘Gair Tilts at Clark’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 19/1/1952.

  24. 24.

    ‘Colin Clark Joins the Courier Mail’, Sunday Mail, 13/1/1952.

  25. 25.

    ‘Expansion of Agriculture; Economists Say Need Urgent’, Sydney Morning Herald, 27/8/1952.

  26. 26.

    Address to Chatham House, 17/3/1953.

  27. 27.

    ‘This Is a Life Sentence’, The Herald (Melbourne), 13/3/1952.

  28. 28.

    ‘Economist Advocates Rapid Import Restriction’, The Canberra Times, 16/9/1955.

  29. 29.

    ‘Restriction of Imports’, Sydney Morning Herald, 18/4/1952.

  30. 30.

    ‘Colin Clark on Australia’, Goulburn Evening Post, 19/5/1952.

  31. 31.

    ‘Australia Will Come on Her Knees to Save Economic Chaos’, Dungog Chronicle, 7/6/1952.

  32. 32.

    ‘Prepare to Ditch; Prediction on Aust Economy’, The West Australian (Perth), 8/5/1952.

  33. 33.

    ‘It’s Absurd That We Should Be Borrowing’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 3/7/1952.

  34. 34.

    ‘Fantastic Dam Plan’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 22/5/1952.

  35. 35.

    ‘Colin Clark Makes Inglorious Bow-Out’, The Worker, 6/10/1952.

  36. 36.

    New Commonwealth, 18/3/1954.

  37. 37.

    ‘Colin Clark’s Bomb’, Sunday Mail (Brisbane), 20/1/1952.

  38. 38.

    ‘Duggan Hits at Clark’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 14/6/1952.

  39. 39.

    Clark to Copland, August 1951, Clark Papers, UQ.

  40. 40.

    Gifford to Copland, 21/4/1952 and Copland to Gifford in response, Copland Papers, NLA.

  41. 41.

    ‘Economist Colin Clark for Research Post at Oxford’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 26/7/1952.

  42. 42.

    Ibid.

  43. 43.

    ‘Economist Discusses Finance Problem’, The Warwick Daily News, 18/8/1950.

  44. 44.

    ‘Need New States Says Colin Clark’, Daily Examiner (Grafton NSW), 1/10/1952.

  45. 45.

    Copland to Firth 15/11/1948, Copland Papers, NLA.

  46. 46.

    Clark to Prest 15/1/1952, Prest Papers, UMA.

  47. 47.

    Robertson to Prest 28/1/1952, Prest Papers, UMA.

  48. 48.

    Downing to W. Prest 12/2/1952, Downing Papers, UMA.

  49. 49.

    Robertson to W. Prest 28/1/1952, Prest Papers, UMA.

  50. 50.

    Firth to R. I. Downing 5/8/1952, Downing Papers, UMA.

  51. 51.

    Crocker to Copland 16/7/1952, Copland Papers, NLA.

  52. 52.

    ‘Sea Travel Economics: Colin Clark’s Problem’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 18/8/1952.

  53. 53.

    ‘Grim Warning by Departing Aust. Economist’, The Examiner (Launceston), 2/10/1952.

  54. 54.

    Clark to M. Clark late 1952, Clark family papers.

  55. 55.

    Clark to M. Clark 18/10/1947, Clark family papers.

  56. 56.

    Clark to M. Clark 22/11/1947, Clark family papers.

References

  • Arndt, H.W. 1954, ‘Economic Development: Some Lessons of Australian Experience’, Weltwirtschaftliches Archive, 73: 162–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arndt, H.W. 1992, ‘Stubbornly Defending the Free Trade Position’, Economic Analysis and Policy, 22(2): 117–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belloc, H. 1912, The Servile State. London: T.N. Foulis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooke, S. 1989, ‘Revisionists and Fundamentalists: The Labour Party and Economic Policy During the Second World War’, The Historical Journal, 32(1): 157–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cairncross, A.K. 1989, The Robert Hall Diaries 1947–1953. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castles, I. 1999, ‘Vice President’s Note’, Dialogue, 18(1): 7–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, C. 1945, ‘Introduction’ in J. P. Kelly op. cit. ix-xiv.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, C. 1947, ‘Lord Keynes’, Twentieth Century, 1(4): 20–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, C. 1949, ‘A System of Equations Explaining the United States Trade Cycle, 1921 to 1941’, Econometrica, 17(2): 93–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, C. 1958, Australian Hopes and Fears. London: Hollis and Carter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, C. 1950, ‘World Resources and World Population’, in Proceedings of the United Nations Scientific Conference on the Conservation and Utilisation of Resources. New York: United Nations: 15–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, C. 1962, ‘Future Sources of Food Supply: Economic Problems’, Journal of The Royal Statistical Society, 125(3): 418–448.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, C. 1976, ‘Keynes on Taxation’, Quadrant, 20(6): 15–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, J.G. (ed.). 1954, Wartime Agriculture in Australia and New Zealand 1939–1950. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, J.G. 1962, ‘Discussion’, in J. Wilkes (ed.) Economic Growth in Australia. Angus and Robertson: Sydney, 30–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuyvers, L. 1983, ‘Keynes’s Collaboration with Erwin Rothbarth’, Economic Journal, 93(371): 629–636.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dell, E. 1997, The Chancellors. London: HarperCollins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Healey, D.T. and B. McFarlane, 1977, ‘Colin Clark Reminisces: An Unscripted Discussion’, University of Adelaide, Economics Working Paper 12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbert, W. 1991, ‘Vale Colin Clark’, World Review, 30(3): 60–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, G. 1982, Mr Santamaria and the Bishops. Sydney: Southwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgins, C. 1989, ‘Colin Clark: An Interview’, Economic Record, 65(3): 296–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holder, R.F. 1952, Australian Production at the Crossroads. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, W. 1968, ‘The Government and Economic Growth in Queensland, 1946–1951’, BA (hons), UQ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jundt, T. 2014, ‘Dueling Visions for the Postwar World: The UN and UNESCO 1949 Conferences on Resources and Nature, and the Origins of Environmentalism’, Journal of American History, 101(1): 44–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, J.P. 1945, Aquinas and Modern Practices of Interest Taking. Brisbane: Aquinas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenwood, A.G. 1988, ‘The Use of Statistics for Policy Advising: Colin Clark in Queensland, 1938–52’, in D. Ironmonger, J.O.N. Perkins and T. Van Hoa (eds.) National Income and Economic Progress: Essays in Honour of Colin Clark. London: Macmillan: 107–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight, K. 1978, ‘Edward Michael Hanlon: A City Bushman’, in Murphy and Joyce (eds.): 433–458.

    Google Scholar 

  • La Nauze, J. 1946, ‘Review of Aquinas and Modern Practices of Interest Taking’, Economic Record, 22(2): 321–322.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, D.J. and R.B. Joyce, 1978, Queensland Political Portraits. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, R. 1970, The Split: Australian Labor in the Fifties. Melbourne: Cheshire.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, C.W. 1976, Country Crisis. Brisbane: W.R. Smith and Peterson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saith, A. 2008, ‘Joan Robinson and Indian Planning: An Awkward Relationship’, Development and Change, 39(6): 1115–1134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Speich, D. 2011, ‘The Use of Global Abstractions: National Income Accounting in the Period of Imperial Decline’, Journal of Global History, 6(1): 7–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, B.F. 2007, ‘Queensland’s Cold War Warrior: The Turbulent Days of Vincent Clair Gair, 1901–80’, Griffith University, Ph.D. thesis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogt, W. 1948, Road to Survival. New York: William Sloane.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federation Business School, Federation University, Ballarat, VIC, Australia

    Alex Millmow

Authors
  1. Alex Millmow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alex Millmow .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Millmow, A. (2021). The Tarmac Economist. In: The Gypsy Economist. Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6946-7_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6946-7_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-33-6945-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-33-6946-7

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation