Fluctuations in the rate of growth : Australia, 1948-49 to 1963-64

Abstract

In the first part of this thesis a non-random sample of thirty-six monthly indicators of the Australian economy (1948 to 1964) is examined with the object of forming a preliminary view of the timing and magnitude of post-war economic fluctuations. Evidence of the indicators is checked against that of the official National Income accounts. Quasi-periodic 'episodes are seen to have occurred in 1950-1953 ('first') and in 1959-1963 ('fourth'). The period from about 1954 to 1958 can be regarded as the result of two successive episodes ('second' and 'third'), the opening phases of the third being superimposed on the later stages of the second.