Introduction: 'Australian Economic History Review, Vol. 42, No. 3'

Abstract

The intertwined economic, policy, and institutional structures of Australia have witnessed profound transformations in recent decades. The old regime of protection and regulation that persisted for most of the twentieth century on the foundation of primary export wealth and the concomitant historic compromise between capital, labour, family farming, and the state, has been overturned and replaced by a neoliberal globalizing regime. This new regime has abandoned much of the old settler society arrangement, such as White Australia, industrial and agricultural protection, and state ownership of service industries, but significant aspects remain in place, such as some degree of centralized industrial relations, the publicly-owned health system, and public broadcasting.