Borrowing and business in Australia

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 183051623X

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-222122

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Wood, Gordon L. http://d-nb.info/gnd/1239193688

Title:: Borrowing and business in Australia

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Oxford university press, H. Milford

Year of publication:: 1930

Scope:: xv, 267 Seiten; graph. Darst.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part V. Australia during and after the great war

Collection:: Economics Books

CONTINUOUS BORROWING 227 being a mistake or a hindrance to Australian industrial and financial progress, has been the principal means whereby our productivity, and consequently our standard of living, has been so markedly improved.! (v) That the increased productiveness made possible by means of overseas loans is more than proportionate to the increase in the annual liability for interest. (vi) That ‘the vast potentialities awaiting development in Australia’ represent a responsibility for which Australia must be prepared to account to an overcrowded world ; and that, for political as much as for economic reasons, Australians are compelled to assume the burden of accelerated development. The urgency of the case leaves no alternative to the policy of borrowing for developmental purposes. (vii) That Australia’s capacity to borrow, as judged by her ability at all times to make prompt payment of the interest on overseas debt, is unimpeached. This readiness and ability ‘honourably to meet all obligations’ is the most practical test of the economic soundness of any community 2 (viii) That the resources awaiting development in Australia are complementary to the capital seeking investment in Great Britain; and that both stand to gain by a policy of keeping capital within the Empire. ‘Investing British’ is our soundest defence against the economic aggression of competing national groups. (ix) That the constant liability for interest imposed upon the community as a result of the long-continued loan policy, just as the hire-purchase contract is to the private citizen, con- stitutes a continuous spur to endeavour, and an insurance against ‘slacking’. The community is thus kept in a state of efficiency, and productivity maintained at its maximum, at least for those industries which contribute to the products acceptable for overseas payments. (x) That the co-operation of the foreign investor results in greater security, efficiency, certainty, and ease in budgeting for the financial necessities of the Commonwealth and the States; { Johnston, op. cit., p. 3. ! Bastable, Public Finance, p. 661: ‘The best support for the policy of paying in full is derived from the economic advantage that a reputation for honesty secures “in the long run”’, and nations have a far greater interest than individuals in paying attention to what happens “in the long run.’

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