This title is an up-to-date approach to South African public economic theory and practice, incorporating structural reforms of the tax system. The text describes the role of government in shaping the economy and discusses the role it should play.
"This valuable textbook enables South African undergraduate and graduate students as well as students from neighbouring countries to develop a greater appreciation for the broader economic environment in which they operate."--BOOK JACKET.
This title is an introduction to economics in general, set against a contemporary South African background. The practical examples make this publication extremely accessible.
While sharing some characteristics with other middle-income countries, South Africa is a country with a unique economic history and distinctive economic features. It is a regional economic powerhouse that plays a significant role, not only in southern Africa and in the continent, but also as a member of BRICS. However, there has been a lack of structural transformation and weak economic growth, and South Africa faces the profound triple challenges of poverty, inequality, and unemployment. Any meaningful debate about economic policies to address these challenges needs to be informed by a deep understanding of historical developments, robust empirical evidence, and rigorous analysis of South Africa's complex economic landscape. This volume seeks to provide a wide-ranging set of original, detailed, and state-of-the-art analytical perspectives that contribute to scientific knowledge as well as to well-informed and productive discourse on the South African economy. While concentrating on the more recent economic issues facing South Africa, the handbook also provides historical and political context. It offers an in-depth examination of strategic issues in the country's key economic sectors, and brings together diverse analytical perspectives.
Why has Africa remained persistently poor over its recorded history? Has Africa always been poor? What has been the nature of Africa's poverty and how do we explain its origins? This volume takes a necessary interdisciplinary approach to these questions by bringing together perspectives from archaeology, linguistics, history, anthropology, political science, and economics. Several contributors note that Africa's development was at par with many areas of Europe in the first millennium of the Common Era. Why Africa fell behind is a key theme in this volume, with insights that should inform Africa's developmental strategies.
Africa is a diverse continent. But is there a pattern to the diversity? Are there commonalities across the countries? And what does economics tell us about the diversity and the commonalities? The Oxford Companion to the Economics of Africa is a definitive and comprehensive account of the key issues and topics affecting Africa's ability to grow and develop. It includes 53 thematic and 48 country perspectives by a veritable who's who of more than 100 leading economic analysts of Africa. The contributors include: bright new African researchers based in Africa; renowned academics from the top Universities in Africa, Europe and North America; present and past Chief Economists of the African Development Bank; present and past Chief Economists for Africa of the World Bank; present and past Chief Economists of the World Bank; African Central Bank governors and finance ministers; and four Nobel Laureates in Economics.
This fourth edition of Public Economics provides a comprehensive yet easy-to-read introductory text to the study of public economics within a South African and Southern African context. The book includes additional self-assessment exercises and interesting comments in each chapter which emphasize topical issues. It has also been updated to feature the latest in SA economic policy.