ABSTRACT
The Cambridge economist Dennis Robertson's peroration was a direct reference to the work of economists in Sweden and Australia during the 1930s. An Indian economist, B. P. Adarkar, hailed Australia as a Utopia for practical economists. Australian economists have always been renowned for their contributions to trade theory. The report on the Australian tariff was to mark the first genuine theoretic contribution made by Australian economists in the twentieth century. It made two distinct contributions to economic theory: first, by looking at the effects of the tariff upon income distribution and, second, by trying to quantify the excess cost of the tariff. While the Federation of the Australian states might have been a good idea from a constitutional perspective, economically it caused great angst among the weaker members of the union. The predominant economic problem in New Zealand after 1921 was the lower returns accruing to farming industries following a glorious twenty-year boom for all farmers.
