Giblin's Platoon : The Trials and Triumph of the Economist in Australian Public Life

"Around 1920 there formed a friendship of four men who were to be at the heart of Australian economic thought and policy-making over the next 30 years: L.F. Giblin, J.B. Brigden, D.B. Copland and Roland Wilson. This book tells their story. As economists, they were to become key figures in the debates of the day, staking sometimes controversial positions on protectionism, central banking, industrial relations, and federalism. As public figures they were at the hub of several events punctuating their times: the Premiers' Plan of 1931, the Bretton Woods conference of 1944, and the inauguration of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945. As leading public intellectuals, they spoke out on censorship, appeasement and defence. As four men who really counted in Australian public life, they were decisive in the establishment of The Australian National University, the Commonwealth Grants Commission, and the modern form of the Australian Public Service and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Giblin's Platoon comprehends the personal and intellectual dimensions of their lives, as well as depicting them in political and cultural contexts. It recounts their chequered relations with Jack Lang, John Curtin, S.M. Bruce, R.G. Menzies, and J.B. Chifley, as well as their encounters with the Bloomsbury group, Joseph Conrad of the Jindyworobaks, and William Dobell."--Publisher's description Giblin's Platoon......Page 1 Table of Contents......Page 11 Preface......Page 17 Acknowledgements......Page 19 Archives and records......Page 21 Note on archival sources......Page 23 Giblin......Page 25 Brigden......Page 46 Copland......Page 50 Wilson......Page 52 2. Building......Page 55 Ideas of a university......Page 56 The Peaks of Lyell......Page 59 A ‘man’s man’ of broad and true scholarship......Page 62 America via England......Page 69 England via America......Page 71 Tracts on monetary reform......Page 73 Lazarus and Dives......Page 77 Miles from anywhere......Page 81 4. Economic science and political power......Page 83 Town and gown......Page 84 ‘The Brigden report’......Page 89 The theoretical significance of the Enquiry......Page 92 The significance for Australian economics......Page 95 The Bureau of Economic Research......Page 97 F. M. Forde:......Page 98 The impact of a tariff......Page 104 The role of population......Page 107 Giblin and the multiplier......Page 109 Cambridge, Tasmania or Cambridge, England?......Page 117 Giblin’s multiplier and Keynes’ General theory......Page 118 Giblin and Keynes discuss – and don’t discuss – the multiplier......Page 120 Appendix: A formalisation of Giblin’s Australia , 1930 multiplier analysis......Page 128 6. The Great Depression and the battle for inflation......Page 131 The Constitutional Club and the coming blow......Page 133 Australia, 1930......Page 135 Fighting Sir Otto......Page 136 The quest for inflation......Page 138 Fighting each other......Page 140 The plan......Page 144 Failing with Lyons and stung by Keynes......Page 145 Why wage cuts?......Page 149 Why spending cuts?......Page 150 Writing the history......Page 152 7. Open letters and private correspondence......Page 155 John Smith......Page 157 The practical communist......Page 163 ‘Personal’......Page 169 8. The seven-pointed star......Page 173 Making Federation work......Page 174 Compensation for Disabilities under Federation......Page 177 Fiscal Equalisation......Page 178 The machinery of state......Page 184 Banks and social security......Page 188 ‘Goodwill toward men’......Page 199 The reveille......Page 201 The bivouac......Page 202 Churning butter into guns......Page 203 Deficits or doles?......Page 207 Reflation or inflation?......Page 209 Taxes or ‘contributions’?......Page 213 Controls......Page 217 ‘The ordeal of 42’......Page 219 The full employment approach......Page 222 The road to Savannah......Page 231 ‘Above all, to know the nature of things’......Page 237 Economic policy......Page 247 Chronicling a central bank......Page 251 A portrait of the author......Page 255 Death......Page 259 Epilogue......Page 260 References......Page 263

Japan's Failed Revolution: Koizumi and the Politics of Economic Reform asks why, despite all the high expectations, the Japanese public's desire for economic reform, and leadership of a majority coalition in a parliamentary democracy, the reformer Prime Minister Koizumi has not achieved the economic reforms expected of him since he

"This book tells the story of four men - L.F. Giblin, J.B. Brigden, D.B. Copland, and Roland Wilson - who, in 1920s Tasmania, formed a personal and intellectual bond that was to prove a pivot of economic thought, policy-making and institution-building in mid-century Australia."--Page ix