think, part of the reason why people search for ‘ engines of growth ’. that older era left an ingrained doubt that australia can become more http : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2017 / sp - ag - 2017 - 11 - 15. html 14 / 16 16 / 11 / 2017 where is the growth going to come from? | speeches | rba prosperous without identifiable external triggers. i believe that it can, and that it will do so through continual innovation and productivity growth spurred by ongoing growth and competition. so next time somebody asks you ‘ where ’ s the growth going to come from? ', you can answer : ‘ from all of us, trying new things, and gradually getting a bit better at what we do. ’ we don't need to wait for something external to make it happen. thank you for your time. bibliography andrews d, c criscuolo and pn gal ( 2015 ), ‘ frontier forms, technology diffusion and public policy : micro evidence from oecd economies ’, oecd : the future of productivity : main background papers. autor d, d dorn, lf katz, c patterson and j van reenan ( 2017 ), ‘ the fall of the labor share and the rise of superstar firms ’, nber working paper 23396. banks g ( 2013 ), ‘ return of the rent - seeking society? ’, stan kelly lecture, melbourne, 15 august. available at < http : / / esavic. org. au / 385 / images / 2013 _ garybanks. pdf >. caballero rj and ml hammour ( 2017 ), ‘ the cost of recessions revisited : a reverse - liquidationist view ’,, 72 ( 1 ), pp 313 – 341. economic studies review of economics of agglomeration, cambridge university press, cambridge. fujita m, p krugman and aj venables ( 1999 ), the spatial economy, the mit press, cambridge, ma. hughes b ( 1980 ), exit full employment, angus & robertson, london ; sydney. fujita m and j - f thisse ( 2002 ), lowe p ( 2014 ), ‘ demographics, productivity and innovation ’, speech to the sydney institute, sydney, 12 march. macfarlane ij ( 2000 ), ‘ talk to world economic forum asia pacific economic summit ’, world economic forum asia pacific economic summit, melbourne, 11 september.

. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2017 / sp - ag - 2017 - 11 - 15. html 3 / 16 16 / 11 / 2017 where is the growth going to come from? | speeches | rba business investment. indeed, almost all of that agricultural investment was ‘ cultivated biological products ’, which is mainly livestock but includes vineyards and orchards. but, even then, agricultural employment was only 11 per cent of the total. and the vast majority of australians, then as now, lived in the biggest cities, far removed from agricultural activity. in recent years, resource exports accounted for around half of australian exports. that figure is likely to increase a little as new liquefied natural gas ( lng ) capacity comes on line. during the recent resource investment boom, mining investment exceeded non - mining investment for a period. but, even if you added in workers in sectors such as construction and professional services who were doing work on mining projects, mining - related employment is just a fraction of the workforce. that was true even at the peak of the mining investment boom. so, again, the vast majority of australians'economic lives are relatively unconnected to the biggest exporting sector. the past decade or so also isn't the first time australia has seen a surge and reversal in the terms of trade, either. the korean war induced a boom – bust cycle in wool prices, a few years before bert entered parliament. and just a few years after he left it, there was a surge in mineral commodity prices. this induced a boom in resource investment, though not as large or long - lived as the one we have just been through. then, as recently, australia needed to manage the consequences of that. former treasury secretary john stone tackled this issue when he gave this lecture in 1981 ( stone 1981 ). then, as now, there were concerns that the economy would suffer from ‘ dutch disease ’, where a higher exchange rate renders the manufacturing sector uncompetitive and industrial capacity atrophies. often it wasn't appreciated that if much of the investment equipment is imported, the exchange rate doesn't appreciate as much. yes, other sectors, including manufacturing, will find it harder to compete with imports when the exchange rate is high. but that isn't a permanent state of affairs. in any case, the international evidence is that the dutch disease doesn't necessarily reduce long - term growth prospects. for that to have been true, the industries that