Why Australia Prospered
The Shifting Sources of Economic Growth
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Why Australia Prospered
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Narrated by:
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Fleet Cooper
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By:
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Ian W. McLean
About this listen
This book is the first comprehensive account of how Australia attained the world's highest living standards within a few decades of European settlement, and how the nation has sustained an enviable level of income to the present. Beginning with the Aboriginal economy at the end of the 18th century, Ian McLean argues that Australia's remarkable prosperity across nearly two centuries was reached and maintained by several shifting factors. These included imperial policies, favorable demographic characteristics, natural resource abundance, institutional adaptability and innovation, and growth-enhancing policy responses to major economic shocks, such as war, depression, and resource discoveries.
Natural resource abundance in Australia played a prominent role in some periods and faded during others, but overall, and contrary to the conventional view of economists, it was a blessing rather than a curse. McLean shows that Australia's location was not a hindrance when the international economy was centered in the North Atlantic, and became a positive influence following Asia's modernization. Participation in the world trading system, when it flourished, brought significant benefits, and during the interwar period when it did not, Australia's protection of domestic manufacturing did not significantly stall growth. McLean also considers how the country's notorious origins as a convict settlement positively influenced early productivity levels, and how British imperial policies enhanced prosperity during the colonial period. He looks at Australia's recent resource-based prosperity in historical perspective, and reveals striking elements of continuity that have underpinned the evolution of the country's economy since the 19th century.
©2013 Princeton University Press (P)2012 Audible, Inc.What listeners say about Why Australia Prospered
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Donazzan
- 04-12-2020
good analysis, needed tighter editing
good analysis of the history of Australia's economy. however at times I felt the explanation was repetitive.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Duncan
- 17-03-2016
excellent content. bad narration
The narrator often sounds like he has finished a sentencewhen in fact there is more to go. imagine that every comma was replaced by a full stop and you're some way to understanding how this guy reads this book. It sounds at times like a robot is reading who has no understanding of what the words they're saying actually mean. You kind of get used to it after a while and some parts feel better than others,. but i feel like I missed a lot of the content because of the strange way in whixh it was read.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Josh W. Keller
- 02-01-2023
A smooth narrative with sufficient complexity
This gives a real economist’s view on the history of Australia pre-Covid. Lots of data and theories, but easy to follow.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 07-11-2019
Terrible narration
As all the other reviewers have commented, this has really terrible narration.
The biggest problem is that the narrator either hasn't read the script before recording it, or the script has been formatted in some strange way. The result is that he puts in full stops. When the sentences are meant to go on. Further. Anyway, he ends up emphasising and pausing on a word in the middle of a sentence that doesn't have any particular significance and then picks up again. It is very hard to follow.
Also, the narrator is American when this is an Australian story with a few references that the author and most Australians would get but the narrator doesn't seem to be aware of (again through his strange emphasis). Also, he pronounces Melbourne and Brisbane the way they are spelt, not the way we actually say them, and this lack of familiarity with Australia really undermines his authority to speak about our history.
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