Microeconomic reform is often dated to the 1980s and occasionally to the mid 1970s picking up important reforms from the Whitlam era. A key phase in this reform period was the corporatisation of Government Business Enterprises (GBEs) which commenced from about 1985. These reforms had efficiency as their core objective and were a necessary precondition to later reforms which extended to the national competition policy. However, there were significant developments aimed at improving the efficiency of the public sector in the 1960s. Treasury published several papers which considered the link between efficient investment in the public sector and economic growth. In one paper published in 1966 Treasury provided a working guide to cost benefit analysis for public investment with a view to formalise its use for such purposes.