Trends in the Composition of Consumer Expenditure: Australia 1854-1913

Abstract

This paper fust surveys available evidence on consumption patterns in the period between the gold rushes and the fust world war (Section 1), then attempts to integrate this evidence to achieve a reasonably consistent set of estimates across the period (Section 2). The changes in the composition of consumption activity are then compared with those occurring since 1914 in Australia, and also with evidence for the United States and several European countries between 1875 and 1914 (Section 3). The share of food items in total consumption has declined while the shares of clothing, housing and "other" items increased between the 1850s and 1914, though this did not occur steadily across the period. Australian and U.S. consumption patterns seem broadly comparable at the end of the nineteenth century.historical analysis; income; growth rate; household