Commodity Price Shocks and the Australian Economy since Federation

Even though Australia has experienced frequent and large commodity export price shocks like the Third World, it seems to have dealt with the volatility better. Why? This paper explores Australian terms of trade volatility since 1901. It identifies two major price shock episodes before the recent mining-led boom and bust. It assesses their relative magnitude, their de-industrialization and distributional impact, and policy responses. In what way has Australia been different from other commodity exporters experiencing volatile prices?