Imports into Victoria in the 1850s

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the responses of supply to the surges in the demand for imports which occurred in Victoria during the gold rushes of the 1850s. The growth of gold-mining income and the growth of population raised the demand for imports, and the organization of a supply response to this was an important element in the reaction of economic activity to the gold rushes. The principal contribution of this thesis is an increase in the understanding of the institutional and economic processes involved in the adjustment of the supply of imports to the surges in demand. In addition, the thesis enlarges the understanding of the commercial sector more generally, of the role of government, and of the nature and influence of transaction costs in the economy. At each stage in the writing of this thesis, the analysis has been hampered by a lack of detailed and systematic data, and an important contribution consists of the estimation and compilation of numerous new data series. The central argument of the thesis is that, while the demand for imports increased enormously under the impact of the gold discoveries, the supply response, under the influence of various endogenous and exogenous factors, involved a complicated process of adjustments and institutional adaptations. To develop this argument, it has been necessary to document the changes in demand and supply, to examine the composition of importers and methods of imports disposal, and to analyse the influence of these on the supply responses. It has also been necessary to make a preliminary analysis of the penetration of imports into the interior, using price differentials between the coast and the interior as an initial indicator of the extent to which markets in the interior were integrated with those on the coast. Further, the thesis considers the extent to which the supply of imports matched the demand, the connection and distinction between the import situation and the situation in relation to commerce and the economy in general, and the interplay of the various factors affecting the adjustment of supply to demand in each of the two major fluctuations in imports during the 1850s. This study examines three aspects of the supply response in turn: the demand for imports and the flow of imported goods into the colony as a whole in the 1850s; the processes involved in the movement of imports from their entry to their initial sale and their distribution to the interior; and the process of the adjustment of supply of imports to demand through two major fluctuations. These three aspects are developed around the central argument in three parts of the thesis that consists of 8 chapters. A basic demandsupply model is used as the basic theoretical framework of the thesis. Three contributions have been made to the study of the economic history of the 1850s in Victoria. First, the process by which the supply of imports adjusted to the demand has been analysed in detail through an examination of the two fluctuations of imports, through an estimation of the value of imports per head, of prices and of the incomes of the working population, and through a discussion of the influence of endogenous and exogenous factors on the supply responses. Second, knowledge of a number of questions has been considerably deepened: who the importers were and what was the role of auctioneering. The ways in which transaction costs (tariff rates, the pace of information transfer, and transport costs) affected the adjustment are made clear. The efforts made by the government to improve land communications and the results of these efforts have also been investigated. Third, detailed data-sets relating to a large number of aspects of the economy of Victoria in the 1850s have been compiled and these will constitute a useful database for other historians. Show more