Australian Coal in the Global Context: A Paradox of Efficiency and Crisis
- 1 May 1990
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space
- Vol. 22 (5) , 629-646
- https://doi.org/10.1068/a220629
Abstract
In 1988 the Australian coal industry was both the most efficient in the world and the most competitive in the international market. At the same time it was in crisis. In this paper this paradox of efficiency and crisis is uncovered by an analysis which integrates long-term structural trends in coal production with an understanding of other determinations such as global market shifts and geopolitical pressures. A perspective on the flows of social labour, or value, within the coal industry is employed as a means of gaining insight into the relationship between long-run tendencies in production and other more contingent determinations.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
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- Industrial reorganisation and coal production in Australia, 1860–1982: an historical materialist analysisAustralian Geographical Studies, 1984