Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T07:57:02.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Financial Deregulation in Australia in the 1980s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Ann Nevile*
Affiliation:
Public Policy Program, Australian National University
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This article examines the process of financial deregulation in Australia during the decade when Australia’s financial system changed from a highly regulated system to a system with few quantitative or qualitative controls, a freely floating exchange rate and a deficit fully financed by the market. While existing accounts have tended to focus on a single explanatory variable (such as an ideological shift or economic pressures), this article argues that policy outcomes were the result of a more complex interaction of ideology, economic forces, institutional structures and political interests. In analyzing the effect of these significant influences, the article provides a more complete picture of the deregulatory process and places the Wallis Report in context.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1997

Footnotes

*

My thanks are due to the Reserve. Bank officials, senior bureaucrats, ministerial advisors and politians who generously found time in their busy work schuldes to give me interviews. Details of names and relevant positions are given in the appendix.

References

Argy, F (1995) personal interview, 21 FebruaryCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Australian Financial System 1984, Report of the Review Group, AGPS, Canberra Google Scholar
Australian Financial System Inquiry 1981, Final Report, AGPS, Canberra Google Scholar
Campbell, I.H. (1982) ‘The Effect of Deregulation of Banking on NBFIs’, in Commissioned Studies and Selected Papers Part 1, Australian Financial System Inquiry, AGPS, CanberraGoogle Scholar
Carew, E (1989) The Experience with Financial Market Deregulation’, in Ulyatt, C. (ed), The Good Fight: Essays in honour of Austin Stewart Holmes (1924–1986), Allen and Unwin, Sydney Google Scholar
Davis, K., Lewis, M. (1982) ‘Foreign Banks and the Financial System - A Study prepared for the Australian Financial System Inquiry’, in Australian Financial System Inquiry, Commissioned Studies and Selected Papers Part 1, AGPS, Canberra Google Scholar
Galligan, B., Singleton, G. (1991) ‘Managing Business’, in Galligan, B., Singleton, G. (eds), Business and Government under Labor, Longman Cheshire, Sydney Google Scholar
Garnaut, R (1997) personal interview, 19 FebruaryGoogle Scholar
Grenville, S (1991) ‘The Evolution of Financial Deregulation’, in Macfarlane, I. (ed), Proceedings of a Conference: The Deregulation of Financial Intermediaries, Reserve Bank of Australia Google Scholar
Harper, I. R. (1986) ‘Why Financial Deregulation?’, Australian Economic Review, No. 1, pp. 3741 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harper, I.R. (1991) ‘Bank Deregulation in Australia: Choice and Diversity, Gainers and Losers’, in Macfarlane, I. (ed), Proceedings of a Conference: The Deregulation of Financial Intermediaries, Reserve Bank of Australia Google Scholar
Hawke, B (1994) The Hawke Memoirs, William Heinemann, Melbourne Google Scholar
Helleiner, E (1994) States and the Reemergence of Global Finance: From Bretton Woods to the 1990s, Cornell University Press, Ithaca Google Scholar
Hewson, J (1995) personal interview, 25 MayGoogle Scholar
Hughes, B (1995) personal interview, 13 JulyGoogle Scholar
Johnston, R.A. (1995) personal interview, 6 SeptemberGoogle Scholar
Keating, M., Dixon, G. (1989) Making Economic Policy in Australia 1983–1988, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne Google Scholar
Kelly, P (1992) The End of Certainty, Allen and Unwin, Sydney Google Scholar
Langmore, J (1995) personal interview, 22 FebruaryGoogle Scholar
Langmore, J., Quiggin, J. (1994) Work For All: Full Employment in the Nineties, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne Google Scholar
Lewis, M., Wallace, R. (eds) (1985) Australia’s Financial Institutions and Markets, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne Google Scholar
Macfarlane, I. (ed) (1991) Proceedings of a Conference: The Deregulation of Financial Intermediaries, Reserve Bank of Australia Google Scholar
McEachern, D (1991) Taking Care of Business: The Hawke Government and the Political Management of Business’, in Galligan, B., Singleton, G. (eds), Business and Government under Labor, Longman Cheshire, Sydney Google Scholar
Merrett, D.T. (1985) ANZ Bank: A History of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited and its Constituents, Allen and Unwin, Sydney Google Scholar
Pauly, L.W. (1987) Foreign Banks in Australia: The Politics of Deregulation, Australian Professional Publications, SydneyGoogle Scholar
Perkins, J.O.N. (1987) Australian Macroeconomic Policy 1975–1985, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne Google Scholar
Perkins, J.O.N. (1989) The Deregulation of the Australian Financial System: the experience of the 1980s, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne Google Scholar
Phillips, M.J. (1982) Treasury Bond Tenders - The Australian Model’, address to the Forum on the Bond Tender System, Sydney, 23 September, in Collected Speeches of M.J. Phillips A.M., Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia 1987–1992, Reserve Bank of Australia Google Scholar
Phillips, M.J. (1984a) The Reasons for the Float and Experience to Date’, address to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, Sydney, 23 January, in Collected Speeches of M.J. Phillips A.M., Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia 1987–1992, Reserve Bank of Australia Google Scholar
Phillips, M.J. (1984b) ‘… Now for 1985′, address to the Australian Forex Association Annual Conference, Canberra, 10 November, in Collected Speeches of M.J. Phillips A.M., Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia 1987–1992, Reserve Bank of Australia Google Scholar
Phillips, M.J. (1984c) ‘Financial Reform - the Australian Experience’, address to the Pacific Basin Reform Conference, San Francisco, December, in Collected Speeches of M.J. Phillips A.M., Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia 1987–1992, Reserve Bank of Australia Google Scholar
Phillips, M.J. (1995) personal interview, 23 MayGoogle Scholar
Sinclair, I (1996) personal interview, 8 AugustGoogle Scholar
Treasury, (1981) The Australian Financial System: Treasury Submissions to the Committee of Inquiry into the Australian Financial System, Treasury Economic Paper No. 9Google Scholar
Visbord, E (1995) personal interview, 22 MarchGoogle Scholar
Walsh, C (1991) The National Economy and Management Strategies’, in Galligan, B., Singleton, G. (eds), Business and Government under Labor Longman Cheshire, Sydney Google Scholar
Ward, B (1995) personal interview, 25 MayGoogle Scholar