scholarly journals Structural Change in South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 28-52
Author(s):  
Nimrod Zalk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Structural Change ◽  
Industrial Policy ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Industrial Restructuring ◽  
The Political ◽  
Macroeconomic Policies ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Political Settlement

This chapter traces how policies and institutions flowing from the post-apartheid political settlement in South Africa gave rise to a range of rents and rent-like transfers, which have not, however, been adequately invested to advance structural transformation. Rather, corporate and industrial restructuring has been associated with a ‘high-profit and low-investment’ economy and deindustrialization. Low investment, job losses, and limited black participation in the ‘commanding heights’ of the economy from the mid-1990s spurred the political impetus for a stronger role for the state during the 2000s. The formal introduction of industrial policy in 2007 has had some successes and helped to avert even deeper deindustrialization. However, it has been undermined by unsupportive macroeconomic policies and a weak articulation between policies to advance black ownership and structural transformation. Rising corruption and maladministration have further undermined structural transformation. Implications are drawn from South Africa’s experience for middle-income countries more generally.

scholarly journals The Political Economy of Structural Transformation

2021 ◽  
pp. 312-336
Author(s):  
Pamela Mondliwa ◽  
Simon Roberts
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Industrial Policy ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Enforcement ◽  
Industrial Policies ◽  
The Core ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Political Settlement

This chapter examines the evolution of the political settlement in South Africa, which is critical for understanding its structural transformation path as well as for the reconfiguration of industrial policy. The success or failure of countries to drive structural change is understood in terms of the extent to which the political settlement, or governing coalition of interests, supports the growth of diversified industrial activities with higher levels of productivity. The chapter analyses why and how, despite the developmental agenda of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), South Africa has failed to achieve its production transformation. The chapter finds that the political settlement forged around South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy created the conditions for a corporate restructuring of the economy characterized by high profitability, despite low investments. This has involved power entrenchment in large incumbent organizations and coalitions of rentieristic interests, which have undermined necessary industrial policy enforcement. Persistent high unemployment and inequality have fuelled dissatisfaction and contestation over the core objectives of a more developmentalist state. Industrial policies have also been undermined by the fragmentation of the state, leading to misaligned policies.

scholarly journals Towards a New Industrial Policy for Structural Transformation

2021 ◽  
pp. 337-362
Author(s):  
Antonio Andreoni ◽  
Pamela Mondliwa ◽  
Simon Roberts ◽  
Fiona Tregenna
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Lower Productivity ◽  
State Interventions ◽  
Climate Crisis

The South African case provides important insights into the challenges facing middle-income countries as they attempt to build productive capabilities to drive their structural transformation. Despite South Africa having opened up and integrated with the global economy, liberalizing trade and financial markets, it has remained stuck in relatively lower-productivity activities with weak diversification of exports. There continues to be a strong path dependency where markets are structured and shaped by previous investment decisions, state interventions, and entrenched rentieristic interests. Five important lessons emerge. First, premature deindustrialization needs to be arrested and reversed, including the growth and upgrading of the manufacturing sector. Second, the technological changes under way with the digitalization of economic activities mean that developing an industrial ecosystem of firms with effective links to public institutions is critical. Third, inclusive industrialization depends on achieving structural change and dismantling barriers to entry to allow a new system of accumulation to emerge. Fourth, structural transformation depends on a country’s political settlement, specifically whether coalitions of interests that support the organization of industries for long-term investment in capabilities hold sway. Fifth, purposive and coordinated industrial policies are central to achieving these goals and improving the country’s productivity and competitiveness. These are applied to identify key considerations for industrial strategy in South Africa, including confronting concentration and the urgent implications of the climate crisis, to ‘build back better’ from the Covid-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals Structural Transformation in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Industrial Structure ◽  
Global Dynamics ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Sustainability Challenges ◽  
Country Specific

Taking South Africa as an important case study of the challenges of structural transformation, the book offers a new micro-meso level framework and evidence linking country-specific and global dynamics of change, with a focus on the current challenges and opportunities faced by middle-income countries. Detailed analyses of industry groupings and interests in South Africa reveal the complex set of interlocking country-specific factors which have hampered structural transformation over several decades, but also the emerging productive areas and opportunities for structural change. The structural transformation trajectory of South Africa presents a unique country case, given its industrial structure, concentration, and highly internationalized economy, as well as the objective of black economic empowerment. The book links these micro-meso dynamics to the global forces driving economic, institutional, and social change. These include digital industrialization, global value-chain consolidation, financialization, and environmental and other sustainability challenges which are reshaping structural transformation dynamics across middle-income countries like South Africa. While these new drivers of change are disrupting existing industries and interests in some areas, in others they are reinforcing existing trends and configurations of power. The book analyses the ways in which both the domestic and global drivers of structural transformation shape—and, in some cases, are shaped by—a country’s political settlement and its evolution. By focusing on the political economy of structural transformation, the book disentangles the specific dynamics underlying the South African experience of the middle-income country conundrum. In so doing, it brings to light the broader challenges faced by similar countries in achieving structural transformation via industrial policies.

Globalization Narratives and Industrial Policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 283-310
Author(s):  
Daniel E. Esser ◽  
James H. Mittelman
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Industrial Policy ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Industrial Policies ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Written Texts ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Competing narratives of globalization constitute parameters that both constrain industrial policymaking and provide opportunities to negotiate alternatives. Such representations of globalization are powerful precisely because they can become objectified as policy. They are also compelling because the literature on industrial policy has so far largely left them out. Focusing on the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), this chapter analyses how elite narratives of globalization expressed in verbal and written texts bear on industrial policies. It documents how the narratives of hyper-globalization and de-globalization have gradually been supplanted by three more specific storylines: (1) globalization as inexorable and malleable; (2) regionalization as a process that can refract global neo-liberalism; and (3) digital industrialization as a promise for industry-driven development yet a catalyst for inequality in low- and middle-income countries. The chapter shows how these storylines form policy openings that can be leveraged to pursue creative, home-grown industrialization strategies.

The Economic Cost of Violence Against Women and Girls in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review of the Evidence

2021 ◽  
pp. 152483802110160
Author(s):  
Seema Vyas ◽  
Melissa Meinhart ◽  
Katrina Troy ◽  
Hannah Brumbaum ◽  
Catherine Poulton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Economic Burden ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Evidence demonstrating the economic burden of violence against women and girls can support policy and advocacy efforts for investment in violence prevention and response programming. We undertook a systematic review of evidence on the costs of violence against women and girls in low- and middle-income countries published since 2005. In addition to understanding costs, we examined the consistency of methodological approaches applied and identified and assessed common methodological issues. Thirteen articles were identified, eight of which were from sub-Saharan Africa. Eight studies estimated costs associated with domestic or intimate partner violence, others estimated the costs of interpersonal violence, female genital cutting, and sexual assaults. Methodologies applied to estimate costs were typically based on accounting approaches. Our review found that out-of-pocket expenditures to individuals for seeking health care after an episode of violence ranged from US$29.72 (South Africa) to US$156.11 (Romania) and that lost productivity averaged from US$73.84 to US$2,151.48 (South Africa) per facility visit. Most studies that estimated provider costs of service delivery presented total programmatic costs, and there was variation in interventions, scale, and resource inputs measured which hampered comparability. Variations in methodological assumptions and data availability also made comparisons across countries and settings challenging. The limited scope of studies in measuring the multifaceted impacts of violence highlights the challenges in identifying cost metrics that extend beyond specific violence episodes. Despite the limited evidence base, our assessment leads us to conclude that the estimated costs of violence against women and girls are a fraction of its true economic burden.

scholarly journals Affordability and Availability of Child Restraints in an Under-Served Population in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1979 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prasanthi Puvanachandra ◽  
Aliasgher Janmohammed ◽  
Pumla Mtambeka ◽  
Megan Prinsloo ◽  
Sebastian Van As ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Injury Death ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Suitable Alternative ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Restraint Use ◽  
Child Restraint

Background: Child road traffic injuries are a major global public health problem and the issue is particularly burdensome in middle-income countries such as South Africa where injury death rates are 41 per 100,000 for under 5′s and 24.5 per 100,000 for 5–14-year-old. Despite their known effectiveness in reducing injuries amongst children, the rates of use of child restraint systems (CRS) remains low in South Africa. Little is known about barriers to child restraint use especially in low- and middle-income countries. Methods: We carried out observation studies and parent/carer surveys in 7 suburbs of Cape Town over a three month period to assess usage rates and explore the knowledge and perceptions of parents towards child restraint legislation, ownership and cost; Results: Only 7.8% of child passengers were observed to be properly restrained in a CRS with driver seatbelt use and single child occupancy being associated with higher child restraint use. 92% of survey respondents claimed to have knowledge of current child restraint legislation, however, only 32% of those parents/carers were able to correctly identify the age requirements and penalty. Reasons given for not owning a child seat included high cost and the belief that seatbelts were a suitable alternative. Conclusions: These findings indicate the need for a tighter legislation with an increased fine paired with enhanced enforcement of both adult seatbelt and child restraint use. The provision of low-cost/subsidised CRS or borrowing schemes and targeted social marketing through online fora, well baby clinics, early learning centres would be beneficial in increasing ownership and use of CRS.

The Oxford Handbook of the South African Economy

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
The South ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Strategic Issues ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Depth Analysis

While South Africa shares some characteristics with other middle-income countries, it has a unique economic history with distinctive characteristics. South Africa is an economic powerhouse with a significant role not only at the southern African regional and continental levels, but also as a member of BRICS. However, the country faces profound developmental challenges, including the ‘triple challenges’ of poverty, inequality and unemployment. There has been a lack of structural transformation and weak economic growth. Ongoing debates around economic policies to address these challenges need to be based on rigorous and robust empirical evidence and in-depth analysis of South African economic issues. This necessitates wide-ranging research, such as that brought together in this handbook. This volume intends to provide original, comprehensive, detailed, state-of-the-art analytical perspectives, that contribute to knowledge while also contributing to well-informed and productive discourse on the South African economy. While concentrating on the more recent economic challenges facing the country, the handbook also provides historical and political context, an in-depth examination of strategic issues in the various critical economic sectors, and assembles diverse analytical perspectives and arguments that have implications for policymaking.

Challenges and Complexities of the South African Economy

2021 ◽  
pp. 2-25
Author(s):  
Fiona Tregenna ◽  
Arabo K. Ewinyu ◽  
Arkebe Oqubay ◽  
Imraan Valodia
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Data ◽  
Growth Path ◽  
The South ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Policy Context ◽  
Key Characteristics

This chapter discusses the key characteristics and core challenges of the South African economy in the post-apartheid era. South Africa shares some commonalities with other African and middle-income economies, yet has a unique history and some distinctive economic features. South Africa’s economic complexities and challenges are discussed here with reference to six comparator countries. We examine South Africa’s growth path, considering the low rates of economic growth as well as the lack of structural transformation and the unsustainable and non-inclusive nature of this growth. The ‘triple challenges’ of poverty, inequality, and employment are both a manifestation of the nature of this growth path and a constraint on overall growth. This is also briefly evaluated in the context of the political economy and policy context of growth and development in South Africa. The chapter reviews South African economic data, with a focus on microeconomic survey data.

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