Author Description

The South African Economy 1910-90 surveys the growth of the South African economy since 1910, when the four provinces came together to form the Union of South Africa. The theme of the book is that efficient economic organization made possible the remarkable growth of the South African economy, which over the years has had to contend with natural disasters, a backward but politically influential agricultural sector, a fixed gold price, the impact of two world wars, and finally the constraints on growth imposed by the apartheid policies since 1948. Gold fuelled the growth of the economy and enabled the government to subsidize agriculture in a way that was not usually possible for developing countries. It also led the South African government to pioneer many of the policies more commonly associated with the agricultural policies of the European Economic Community. Gold, however, has been a mixed blessing, and since 1973 the dramatic rise in its price has not been accompanied by a boom in the growth rate. In fact, it led to a marked deceleration in the rate of growth and triggered a burst of inflation that is still ravaging the South African economy. Since leaving the Commonwealth in 1961 South Africa has experienced an industrial revolution that has made her the powerhouse of Africa, but accompanying this industrial transformation there occurred a population explosion that increased the need for foreign investment just at the time when anti-apartheid campaigns were making this impossible. As a result, the 1980s saw a decline in white incomes and an increase in black unemployment.