Determinants of rail productivity in the 20th century

Abstract

Productivity growth in Australia's railways through the 20th Century was neither smooth nor uniformly positive. It was static or falling for much of the century, before increasin grapidly with dieselisation and the rise of minerals traffic. This paper uses regression analysis to develop an understanding of the factors which drove productivity growth throughout the 20th Century, using a unique dataset developed at the Centre for Researchin Applied Economics at Curtin University. It aims not only to understand the growth of rail in the 20th Century, but also to provide lessons for policymakers about what can assistit in continuing to grow in the 21st.