Book contents
- The Cambridge Economic History of Australia
- The Cambridge Economic History of Australia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- List of figures
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: connecting past, present and future
- Part 1 Framework
- Part 2 Transition
- Part 3 Economic expansion of the colonies
- Part 4 A national economy
- Part 5 Building the modern economy
- Part 6 Looking backwards and to the future
- 21 A statistical narrative: Australia, 1800–2010
- 22 Wealth and welfare
- 23 Property rights regimes and their environmental impacts
- 24 Refiguring Indigenous economies: a 21st-century perspective
- Statistical Appendix: selected data series, 1800–2010
- References
- Subject index
- Company index
23 - Property rights regimes and their environmental impacts
from Part 6 - Looking backwards and to the future
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014
Book contents
- The Cambridge Economic History of Australia
- The Cambridge Economic History of Australia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- List of figures
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: connecting past, present and future
- Part 1 Framework
- Part 2 Transition
- Part 3 Economic expansion of the colonies
- Part 4 A national economy
- Part 5 Building the modern economy
- Part 6 Looking backwards and to the future
- 21 A statistical narrative: Australia, 1800–2010
- 22 Wealth and welfare
- 23 Property rights regimes and their environmental impacts
- 24 Refiguring Indigenous economies: a 21st-century perspective
- Statistical Appendix: selected data series, 1800–2010
- References
- Subject index
- Company index
Summary
This chapter explores the evolution of property rights used to allocate and price land and water in Australia to better understand how these rights have influenced economic growth. It also provides an historical overview of property rights institutions, and explores the degradation of natural assets that may negatively impact future economic growth. Next, the chapter outlines the rise of wool production in the 19th century, and highlights the evolution of property rights to land and water in the context of gold mining and the impacts of resource exploitation on the surrounding environment. It then explores the political changes of the 1850s that resulted in the allocation of land away from wool producers and the establishment of small landholders on much of the Australian interior. Finally, the chapter discusses the changes in property rights to land and water ushered in by the rise of small-scale agriculture, highlighting the introduction of government-sponsored irrigation.
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- The Cambridge Economic History of Australia , pp. 511 - 529Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014