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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | Did the Apartheid Economy 'Fail'? |
| Author: | Moll, Terence |
| Year: | 1991 |
| Periodical: | Journal of Southern African Studies |
| Volume: | 17 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Period: | June |
| Pages: | 271-291 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | South Africa |
| Subjects: | productivity economic development Politics and Government Economics and Trade |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/2637237 |
| Abstract: | Researchers of various political persuasions tend to regard the apartheid economy as an economic growth success story until the early 1970s. Rarely, however, is evidence provided to back up this claim. The author proposes four practical growth criteria by which to evaluate whether the postwar economy of South Africa grew as fast as its considerable potential would suggest. The first test is whether the South African economy grew faster after 1948 than before, allowing for developments in the world economic system. The second test concerns how South Africa grew compared to other developing economies in this period. The third test is whether foreign demand was utilized to encourage rapid growth. The final growth criterion concerns South Africa's productivity growth record, compared to productivity growth in other developing countries. The conclusion is that economic growth after 1948 was only fractionally faster than before. The country's comparative output-growth record was poor, and its record in terms of the growth of manufactured exports and total factor productivity verged on the disastrous. Taking these indicators together, the conclusion is that the apartheid economy failed to achieve its growth potential. Notes, ref., sum. |
