Giblin's Platoon
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Giblin's Platoon
The trials and triumphs of the economist in Australian public life
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Individuals
Newspapers, organisations, books
Archives and records
Note on archival sources
1. Tasmanian genesis ‘It started – as always, with him – in Tasmania’
Giblin
Brigden
Copland
Wilson
2. Building
Ideas of a university
The Peaks of Lyell
A ‘man’s man’ of broad and true scholarship
3. Gold and capital
America via England
England via America
Tracts on monetary reform
Lazarus and Dives
Miles from anywhere
4. Economic science and political power
Town and gown
‘The Brigden report’
The theoretical significance of the
Enquiry
The significance for Australian economics
The Bureau of Economic Research
Protectionists
Appendix: A rational reconstruction of the Australian case for protection
Assumptions
The impact of a tariff
The role of population
5. Giblin and Keynes
Giblin and the multiplier
Cambridge, Tasmania or Cambridge, England?
Giblin’s multiplier and Keynes’
General theory
Giblin and Keynes discuss – and don’t discuss – the multiplier
Appendix: A formalisation of Giblin’s
Australia , 1930
multiplier analysis
6. The Great Depression and the battle for inflation
The twisted trail
The Constitutional Club and the coming blow
Australia, 1930
The quest for inflation
Fighting each other
The plan
Failing with Lyons and stung by Keynes
With the wisdom of hindsight
Why wage cuts?
Why spending cuts?
Writing the history
7. Open letters and private correspondence
John Smith
The practical communist
‘Personal’
8. The seven-pointed star
Making Federation work
Relief for Deficits
Compensation for Disabilities under Federation
Fiscal Equalisation
The machinery of state
Banks and social security
9. In war and peace
Introduction
‘Goodwill toward men’
The reveille
The bivouac
Churning butter into guns
How to pay for the war
Deficits or doles?
Reflation or inflation?
Taxes or ‘contributions’?
Controls
‘The ordeal of 42’
The full employment approach
10. The last ridge
Introduction
The road to Savannah
‘Above all, to know the nature of things’
Economic policy
Chronicling a central bank
A portrait of the author
Death
Epilogue
References
List of Figures
1.1.
Giblin (bearded), among ‘The Elect’, on his return from British Columbia
1.2.
Captain Giblin, still with ‘socialist beard’
1.3.
Eilean Giblin (second from left) with Australian suffragettes, Rome 1923
2.1.
Wilson about to depart for Oxford
4.1.
Copland dazzles in Melbourne
4.2.
‘The Brigden Condition’
4.3.
The impact of a tariff under the Brigden assumption
4.4.
‘The Sidgwick Assumption’
4.5.
The impact of a tariff under the Sidgwick Assumption
4.6.
The Minimum Population for a Tariff to be Wage Improving
7.1.
Giblin with young friends
8.1.
Giblin at his desk
8.2.
Brigden at his desk
8.3.
Copland at his desk
8.4.
Wilson at his desk
8.5.
One of 1.7 million pamphlets issued to win public favour for the ill-starred National Insurance scheme
9.1.
Brigden (left), as Secretary of Munitions sharing a platform with R. G. Menzies
9.2.
Wilson at the time of the United Nations San Francisco conference
10.1.
Copland (centre) in charge at the Australian National University.
10.2.
Copland and Medley (at left) as friends on the Council of the Australian National University
10.3.
The Dobell Giblin was expecting
List of Tables
5.1.
Multiplier concepts from c. 1930
8.1.
Giblin’s taxation comparisons
8.2.
Comparison of grants recommended by the Commonwealth Grants Commission with grants implied by a
per capita
schema, $m, 2005-06