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The paper is concerned with the description, analysis and prescription of Australia’s hire purchase problem. In the first part, the author surveys the structure of the Australian hire purchase industry, its record of development in recent years, its sources of finance, and the main classes of transaction which it undertakes. In the second part of the paper, the impact of the growth of hire purchase upon the Australian economy is analysed within the confines of the macro-economy and the short run. The last section deals with policy and the control of hire purchase. Here the discussion is rather technical as it involves the political, constitutional and technical framework within which monetary policy in Australia is perforce conducted. JEL: E51, E52