The unemployment rate in Australia fell from 29 percent in 1932 to 16 percent in 1935 and 9 percent in 1937. In the U.S., the figure was 21 percent in 1935 and 17 percent in 1937. Between 1929 and 1940, Australian real GDP grew by 16.6 percent, compared with 1.6 percent in the U.S. and 24.6 percent in the United Kingdom.[43] According to Hawkins (2010), "arguably Australia was the first country to emerge from the depression, and Roosevelt asked Lyons how it was done".[42] Carl Boris Schedvin, author of Australia and the Great Depression (1970), considered Lyons an inconsequential figure regardless of policy outcomes, describing him as "an unexceptional treasurer. He possessed what in polite circles was described as a 'good grasp' of financial matters and an ability to present a difficult argument cogently, but he lacked Theodore's incisive clarity. His thinking on financial and economic matters was barren of originality and there is almost nothing one can point to in the Lyons period in the form of new or improved organisation for the administration of the economy."[40] Hawkins, John (2010). "Joseph Lyons: the Tasmanian treasurer"(PDF). Economic Roundup. 3. Department of the Treasury.
