Abstract
This conversation was held with Selwyn Cornish in mid-2023 in Canberra. It covers some of the many contributions Selwyn has made, and is continuing to make, to both the history of economic thought and Australian academic life in his long career at the Australian National University. It also covers his interest in the lives of practical economists and the history of the Reserve Bank.
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflicts of interest or funding were reported by the authors.
Notes
1 A distance of over 300 kilometres.
2 Malcolm Treadgold is an emeritus professor of economics at the University of New England. He has had three articles published in History of Economics Review.
3 Bruce Bennet became professor of English at ADFA. His publications included the Oxford Literary History of Australia.
5 Merab Harris’s career is discussed in Millmow (Citation2022).
6 Ray Byron did a PhD at the London School of Economics and became an econometrician at ANU.
7 Frank Harman went on to specialise in energy economics and taught at Murdoch University.
8 Professor Tucker’s career is summarised in Harper (Citation2002).
11 Swan’s time in India is described in Cornish and Jha (Citation2017).
13 Selwyn reviewed two of the Skidelsky volumes in Cornish (Citation1994, Citation2002c). He also reviewed a number of other books about Keynes and Keynesianism. Selwyn wrote his own biographical essay on Keynes; Cornish (Citation2004a).
14 He later wrote a short biography of Keynes; Clarke (Citation2009).
15 Her keynote address on Meade to the 2022 HETSA conference was published as Howson (Citation2023).
17 White and Keynes fought for their different visions of the post-war international financial architecture at Bretton Woods. See also Broughton (Citation2021), reviewed in Cornish (Citation2023).
20 The book was awarded the Bruce McComish Prize by the Australian Economic and Business History Society in 2007.
21 Cornish and Jha (Citation2017) was awarded the Peter Groenewegen Prize in 2019 for best article published in History of Economics Review.
25 ARC Future fellow and ANU honorary professor.
26 ANU Pro-chancellor since 2017, and executive general manager for corporate affairs at Wesfarmers.
27 ‘The stealing time’, Economist, 13 June 2015.
28 Giblin (Citation1951) wrote the first volume and, after Syd Butlin (Citation1983) died before he could complete the next volume, Schedvin (Citation1992) wrote the second. Gollan (Citation1968) wrote a history of the early years of the Commonwealth Bank, to which the Reserve Bank is the legal successor.
30 Cornish (Citation2022b) is Selwyn’s submission to the inquiry, some of which is reflected in Cornish and Hawkins (Citation2022c).
31 Section 50 (1) of the Banking Act 1959 specifies that ‘The Reserve Bank may, with the approval of the Treasurer, make regulations – (a) making provision for or in relation to the control of rates of interest payable to or by banks, or to or by other persons in the course of any banking business carried on by them’.
Millmow, A. 2022. “Preparing the Way: Six Pioneering Women of Australian Economics.” History of Economics Review 83 (1): 68–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2022.2137363 Harper, M. 2002. “Tucker, Graham Shardalow Lee (1924-1980).” Australian Dictionary of Biography 16:416–417. Cornish, S. 2004b. “Noel Butlin, economic history and the archives of business and labour,” In Light from the Tunnel: Collecting the Archives of Australian Business and Labour at the Australian National University, 1953-2003, edited by B. Howarth and E. Maidment. Friends of the Noel Butlin Archive Centre, Canberra. Shapley, M. 2021. Butlin, Noel George (1921-1991). Vol. 19 of Australian Dictionary of Biography, Melbourne University Press: Melbourne. Cornish, S. 2002a. “Heinz Wolfgang Arndt (1915-2002).” History of Economics Review 36 (1): 170–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2002.11733386 Coleman, P., S. Cornish, and P. Drake. 2007. Arndt’s Story: The Life of an Australian Economist. Canberra: ANU Press. Cornish, S., and H. Arndt. 2001. “History of Economics at the Australian National University, 1950-2000.” Unpublished. Cornish, S., and R. Jha. 2017. “Trevor Swan and Indian Planning: The Lessons of 1958/59.” History of Economics Review 67 (1): 2–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2017.1340080 Cornish, S., and J. Hawkins. 2022a. “Geoffrey Harcourt (1931-2021): His Life and Works.” History of Economics Review 81 (1): 8–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2022.2046974 Cornish, S., and J. Hawkins. 2022b. “Remembering Geoff Harcourt (1931-2021): A Post-Keynesian Pioneer.” Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 45 (2): 169–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/01603477.2022.2068036 Cornish, S. 1994. “Review of Moggridge (1992) and Skidelsky (1992).” Economic Record 70 (210): 346–348. Cornish, S. 2002c. “Review of Skidelsky (2000).” Economic Record 78 (241): 238–241. Cornish, S. 2004a. “John Maynard Keynes.” In Biographical Dictionary of British Economists. Thoemmes. Clarke, P. 2009. Keynes. London: Bloomsbury. Howson, S. 2023. “Australia and James Meade.” History of Economics Review 85 (1): 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2023.2226837 Caldwell, B., and H. Klausinger. 2022. Hayek. A Life 1899-1950. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Endres, T. 2023. “Review of Caldwell and Klausinger (2022).” History of Economics Review 85 (1): 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2023.2203530 Cornish, S. forthcoming. “Review of Caldwell and Klausinger (2022).” Economic Record. Broughton, J. 2021. Harry White and the American Creed. How a Federal Bureaucrat Created the Modern Global Economy (and Failed to Get the Credit). New Haven: Yale University Press. Cornish, S. 2023. “Review of Broughton (2021).” History of Economics Review 85 (1): 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2023.2230621 Cornish, S. 1993. “Sir Leslie Melville: An Interview.” Economic Record 69 (4): 437–457. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.1993.tb02125.x Cornish, S. 1999. “Sir Leslie Melville: Keynesian or Pragmatist?” History of Economics Review 30 (1): 126–150. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.1999.11733317 Cornish, S. 2002b. “Leslie Galfried Melville 1902-2002.” Economic Record 78 (243): 471–478. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4932.00072 Cornish, S. 2008. “Leslie Melville.” In A Biographical Dictionary of Australian and New Zealand Economists, edited by J King. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Cornish, S. 2014. “Sir Leslie Melville: a Numbers Man.” Currency, September. Cornish, S. 2021. “The Central Bank’s First Economist.” Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin (December): 33–42. Cornish, S. 1978. “Towards Full Employment in Britain: The Origins and Preparation of the 1944 White Paper on Employment Policy.” Unpublished. Cornish, S. 1981. “Full Employment in Australia: The Genesis of a White Paper.” ANU Research Papers in Economic History 1. Cornish, S., and J. Hawkins. 2023. “1 in 5 Australian workers is either underemployed or out of work: white paper.” The Conversation, September 25. Cornish, S., and R. Jha. 2017. “Trevor Swan and Indian Planning: The Lessons of 1958/59.” History of Economics Review 67 (1): 2–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2017.1340080 Cornish, S. 1978. “Towards Full Employment in Britain: The Origins and Preparation of the 1944 White Paper on Employment Policy.” Unpublished. Cornish, S. 1981. “Full Employment in Australia: The Genesis of a White Paper.” ANU Research Papers in Economic History 1. Cornish, S. 2016. “Monetary Targeting in Australia,” In Milton Friedman: Contributions to Economics and Public Policy, edited by R. Cord and D. Hammond. London: Oxford University Press. Cornish, S., and K. Schuler. 2019. “Australia’s Proposals at Bretton Woods and Roads Not Taken,” In The Bretton Woods Agreements, edited by I. Shapiro and N. Lamoreau. London: Yale University Press. Cornish, S. 2002d. Sir Roland Wilson. An Essay in Biography. Canberra: ANU Press. Cornish, S. 2015. “Sir Roland Wilson – primus inter pares.” In The Seven Dwarfs and the Age of the Mandarins, edited by S. Furphy, 125–141. Canberra: ANU Press. Cornish, S., and J. Hawkins. 2022a. “Geoffrey Harcourt (1931-2021): His Life and Works.” History of Economics Review 81 (1): 8–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2022.2046974 Cornish, S., and J. Hawkins. 2022b. “Remembering Geoff Harcourt (1931-2021): A Post-Keynesian Pioneer.” Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 45 (2): 169–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/01603477.2022.2068036 Cornish, S., and J. Hawkins. 2022c. “The RBA Has Got a Lot Right, But There’s Still a Case for an Inquiry.” The Conversation, June 10. Cornish, S., and A. Millmow. 2016. “A W H Phillips and Australia.” History of Economics Review 63 (1): 2–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2016.1177892 Cornish, S., and A. Millmow. 2021. “How Arthur Smithies Was Lost to Australia.” History of Economics Review 78 (1): 44–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2021.1907907 Giblin, L. F. 1951. The Growth of a Central Bank. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. Butlin, S. 1983. “Australian Central Banking, 1945-59.” Australian Economic History Review XXIII (2): 95–192. Schedvin, C. B. 1992. In Reserve: Central Banking in Australia, 1945-75. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin. Gollan, R. 1968. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia: Origins and Early History. Canberra: ANU Press. Cornish, S. 2010. The Evolution of Central Banking in Australia. Sydney: Reserve Bank of Australia. Cornish, S. 2021. “The Central Bank’s First Economist.” Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin (December): 33–42. Cornish, S. 2022a. “HC Coombs: governor of Australia’s Central Bank 1949-1968.” Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin (December): 1–10. Cornish, S. 2022b. “Submission to Review of the Reserve Bank.” October. Cornish, S., and J. Hawkins. 2022c. “The RBA Has Got a Lot Right, But There’s Still a Case for an Inquiry.” The Conversation, June 10. Millmow, A. 2007. “Government in the Back Seat as Changes Give Reserve Bank More Power.” Sydney Morning Herald, December 12. Hawkins, J. 2010. “Ted Theodore: The Proto-Keynesian.” Australian Treasury Roundup 2010 (1): 91–110. Additional information
Notes on contributors
Selwyn Cornish
Selwyn Cornish AM is an honorary associate professor in the Research School of Economics at the Australian National University. He is the official historian of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Alex Millmow
Alex Millmow is an honorary research fellow with Federation University Australia. He is the president of the History of Economic Thought Society of Australia.
John Hawkins
John Hawkins is a senior lecturer in the Canberra School of Politics, Economics & Society at the University of Canberra. He is co-editor of History of Economics Review.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2092-1208
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