The benefits of the mining boom: Where did they go?

The perception of most Australians is that the mining boom delivered unambiguous benefits for the Australian economy, including more jobs, exports, tax revenues and, for the majority of people, higher incomes. But was this the case? This paper looks more closely at the extent to which Australians have, in fact, benefitted from the boom, which it dates as beginning after the December quarter 2004 when commodity prices clearly began to show the impact of the increased demand from the rest of the world.