AbstractsEconomics

The thesis is divided into four parts. The first, which consists of this chapter alone, looks at the Northern Territory as a transport region. The physical environment and the history of the development of pastoralism and transportation are described to provide a setting for the empirical work that follows, which is restricted to a consideration of beef production between 1950 and 1967 and the assessment of emerging and potential developments from the latter date. The discussion of the limitations on mobility and trade up to 1950 also allows the identification and illustration of the components of property accessibility and this leads to the formulation of a general model of this attribute. Part 2, consisting of Chapters 2 to 5, examines the pattern of trade and production in the study industry to assess how far producers adjust their consignment and resources use decisions to take account of differences in comparative locational advantages. Chapter 2 introduces the theory of the generation of situation and intensity rents and looks at the characteristics of the beef industry in the Territory to point up deviations from the constraints of von Thiinen' s Isolated State. This gives a background to the economic organisation of production and the problems that are met in processing output and survey data. In addition, the chapter lays the foundation for an evaluation of the importance of location rents in modern agriculture, and the utility of the concepts of spatial equilibrium in exchange and resource use in research.