ABSTRACT
Australia together with its neighbor in the antipodes, New Zealand, maintained the highest levels of tariffs among all OECD countries until the 1980s. Within fifteen years, however, both had reduced their tariff protection to the OECD norm; moreover, both countries had relatively good records on the use of non-tariff barriers and provided little support for their domestic agricultural sectors.1 For these two countries, efforts to cope with the forces of globalization have involved a dramatic reversal of seven decades of policies aimed at insulating domestic economy and society alike from the vicissitudes of global capitalism. These policies of insulation were sustained by efficient primary product sectors. The declining weight of raw materials in global trade, and consequent deterioration in their economies’ terms of trade and current account balances, forced governments in the two countries to seek a new basis for integrating their economies into the global system. This quest has focused in particular on increasing the competitiveness of domestic manufacturing and services sectors.
