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The Monash Years

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The Gypsy Economist

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

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Abstract

This chapter looks at Colin Clark’s return to Australia and his subsequent appointments at Monash University, the Institute for Economic Progress and The University of Queensland. It was abbreviated by a brief foray in London working for a libertarian think-tank. In October 1969, Clark took up a position at Monash University. The Catholic Church in Melbourne funded a research institute for him to pursue his interests in population and economic development. He also resumed his controversial media profile writing about economic and political issues including inflation, environmentalism, urban issues, decentralisation, population and world hunger. He engaged in public debate with leading feminist, Germaine Greer on abortion and with the controversial biochemist, Paul Ehrlich on zero population growth. With inflation stirring, Clark linked it with high-taxing, high-spending governments. The solution, he argued, was to suppress the level of public spending followed by a reduction in taxation to restore private demand. In 1976 Clark spent time in London with the Centre for Policy Studies set up to broadcast of neoliberal ideas. He continued his work on welfare reform including the possible introduction of negative taxation. However, the Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher, steered clear of his radical reforms to welfare and a disheartened Clark returned to Australia.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Clark to Monash Registrar, 31 October 1969, Clark staff file, Monash University Archives.

  2. 2.

    Butterfield to Monash Registrar, 19 August 1960, Butterfield Papers, Cambridge University. I am indebted to my colleague Benedict Davies of the Economic Society of Australia for retrieving this correspondence.

  3. 3.

    D. Copland to R.I. Downing, 8 September 1960, Copland Papers, NLA.

  4. 4.

    W. Prest to J.A.L. Matheson, 20 September 1960, Copland Papers, NLA.

  5. 5.

    Downing to J.A.L. Matheson, 14 September 1960, Copland Papers, NLA.

  6. 6.

    Downing to W. Prest, 29 September 1961, Downing Papers, UMA.

  7. 7.

    Santamaria to Clark, 19 June 1968, Santamaria Papers, SLV.

  8. 8.

    Wall Street Journal, 30 March 1967 and Time, 7 April 1967.

  9. 9.

    ‘Top Economist Comes Home’, The Australian, 1 November 1969.

  10. 10.

    ‘World Well Fed Says Economist’, The Age (Melbourne), 3 November 1969.

  11. 11.

    ‘The Myth of World Hunger’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 13 February 1970.

  12. 12.

    ‘Top Economist Comes Home’, The Australian, 1 November 1969.

  13. 13.

    ‘Make Them Pay’, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 April 1970.

  14. 14.

    Clark to Santamaria, 6 August 1974. Santamaria Papers, SLV.

  15. 15.

    ‘Who Foots the Bill’, The Catholic Weekly, 4 January 1973.

  16. 16.

    Editor of The Courier Mail to Clark, 20 January 1972.

  17. 17.

    ‘Problems Will Be Areas for Play’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 14 January 1970.

  18. 18.

    ‘Money, God in Politics’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 1 July 1970.

  19. 19.

    ‘Money Worship in the States’, The Canberra Times, 1 July 1970.

  20. 20.

    ‘Students Need to Pay Their Own Fees’, The Canberra Times, 22 August 1970.

  21. 21.

    ‘Tax Changes Suggested’, The Canberra Times, 18 May 1970.

  22. 22.

    ‘Lord Balogh Lunges Out—But with What Effect?’, News Weekly (Melbourne), 16 June 1982.

  23. 23.

    R. Solow to Clark, 8 January 1974, Clark Papers, UQ.

  24. 24.

    Robinson to Richard Kahn, 7 March 1975, Kahn Papers, King’s College, Cambridge.

  25. 25.

    Robinson to Kahn 13 March 1975, Kahn Papers, King’s College, Cambridge.

  26. 26.

    ‘Review of Economic Philosophy by Joan Robinson’, The Tablet, 11 April 1964.

  27. 27.

    Robinson to Clark, 9 June 1964, Clark Papers, UQ.

  28. 28.

    ‘Pull Back Demand-Economist’, The Age (Melbourne), 29 August 1979.

  29. 29.

    Clark to A.A. Walters, 4 July 1974, Clark Papers, UQ.

  30. 30.

    Clark to Seldon, 20 October 1975, Clark Papers, UQ.

  31. 31.

    Clark to Friedman, 26 November 1974, Friedman Papers, Hoover Institution Archives.

  32. 32.

    In 1992 Perkins (1977b, 1) recorded that Clark in personal communication still adhered to the relationship, arguing that, though weak, it was nonetheless a clear one.

  33. 33.

    Transcript of telecast of Monday Conference with Milton Friedman 14 April 1975, Australian Broadcasting Commission.

  34. 34.

    ‘Inflation Could Be 40 pc in Australia’, The Canberra Times, 16 April 1975.

  35. 35.

    Keynes to Clark 9 March 1945, RES, LSE.

  36. 36.

    Keith Joseph to David Clark, 18 June 1975. I am indebted to David Clark for having shown me a copy of this letter.

  37. 37.

    Cited by David Clark in his memoir of his father, Brasenose Colloquium, 2005.

  38. 38.

    A. Sherman to K Joseph, 10 January 1977, Sherman MS, Royal Holloway Library.

  39. 39.

    A. Prest to W. Prest, 24 July 1976, Prest Papers, UMA.

  40. 40.

    A. Prest to W. Prest, 24 March 1977, Prest Papers, UMA.

  41. 41.

    ‘Distinguished Economist and Eccentric’, The Age (Melbourne), 6 September 1989.

  42. 42.

    Cited from David Clark’s memoir of his father. Brasenose Colloquium, 2005.

  43. 43.

    G. Clark to Clark 1978, Clark family letters.

  44. 44.

    ‘Government on Right Tack Against Inflation’, The Canberra Times, 8 August 1977.

  45. 45.

    Clark to Friedman 10 March 1981, Clark Papers, UQ.

  46. 46.

    For her own part, Thatcher would have her revenge on economists. With the help of her press secretary Bernard Ingham, she devised a short sketch based on the BBC television comedy program Yes, Minister. Together with actors Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne, she performed this sketch at the National Viewers and Listeners Award presentation in 1984. Her latest brainwave was, as set out in the sketch, to abolish economists! Yes Minister was one of Clark’s favourite television programs.

  47. 47.

    J.D. Butchart (Registrar) to Clark, 27 January 1978, Clark personnel file, Monash University.

  48. 48.

    Ross Parish referee’s report to Butchart, 21 December 1977, Clark personnel file, Monash University Archives.

  49. 49.

    F. Cranston, ‘An Aging Population in a World of Changing Power Balances’, The Canberra Times, 8 October 1977.

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

    Alex Millmow

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Millmow, A. (2021). The Monash Years. 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_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6946-7_18

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