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IN MY last column I wrote about how standards contribute positively to South Africa’s economy, through their impact on international trade.
I was going to continue with this line of thought because standards also increase economic efficiency - which generates economic benefits for the supplying industry - and lower prices for goods and services, but then I came across a website.
The website is part of an ambitious new project by Anthony B Atkinson and Salvatore Morelli, who have created the “Chartbook of Economic Inequality”. The Chartbook presents a summary of evidence about long-run changes in economic inequality for 25 countries covering more than one hundred years.
I thought I would present Atkinson and Morelli’s findings for South Africa, as income inequality and poverty are two of our nation’s sore points.
For me, two things stand out: 1) Overall inequality has increased, and there is insufficient evidence to suggest that it has fallen for a sustained period of time. 2) Poverty has been falling in recent decades: the number of people living below the national poverty line dropped from 53% in 1970 to 32% in 2004.
The two authors ask specific questions of the data for each of the 25 countries and I present the questions and the associated findings for South Africa below (visit http://www.chartbookofeconomicinequality.com/ for more):
The above makes me question the effectiveness of some of our national policies. For example, given that unemployment is so high, did the reduction in poverty come about because of increased social support?
Is social support thus hindering our potential to grow and create a lasting solution to poverty reduction through taking money away from potentially lucrative investment opportunities?
Has black economic empowerment and broad-based black economic empowerment been effective (if so, where)? How long will BEE and BBBEE continue to be pursued when after more than a decade of implementation, income inequality has increased?
Promises and short-term results are one thing. The more important outcomes should be longevity and sustainability. As Pascal Lamy and Ian Goldin put it: “Excessive short-termism is always a problem for policy [and] a shift to longer-term solutions is necessary and possible.
"A key message is that businesses as well as governments need to take a longer-term view.” Are South Africa’s policies of today promoting progress or regress: will South Africa be a better place for our children and our children’s children?
As an example of an effective policy, read up about the Juvenile Robbery Intervention Program (J-RIP). To sum it up and provide you with the crux of the policy, Police Chief Jaffe initiated a programme in which a core group of juvenile criminals were observed 24/7 and ‘forced’ to attend school.
This was started in 2007 and the figures below show the results of this policy.
What is most striking to me is the almost immediate impact of the policy. Robberies fell in the very same year the programme was launched and continued to slide yearly.
There was a substantial drop in arrests from about 360 one year prior to the programme, to about 45 after one year – that is a drop in arrests of about 85%.
So I ask again, are South Africa’s policies of today promoting progress or regress?
- Fin24
* Geoffrey Chapman is a guest columnist and trade policy expert at the SABS. Views expressed are his own.
I was going to continue with this line of thought because standards also increase economic efficiency - which generates economic benefits for the supplying industry - and lower prices for goods and services, but then I came across a website.
The website is part of an ambitious new project by Anthony B Atkinson and Salvatore Morelli, who have created the “Chartbook of Economic Inequality”. The Chartbook presents a summary of evidence about long-run changes in economic inequality for 25 countries covering more than one hundred years.
I thought I would present Atkinson and Morelli’s findings for South Africa, as income inequality and poverty are two of our nation’s sore points.
For me, two things stand out: 1) Overall inequality has increased, and there is insufficient evidence to suggest that it has fallen for a sustained period of time. 2) Poverty has been falling in recent decades: the number of people living below the national poverty line dropped from 53% in 1970 to 32% in 2004.
The two authors ask specific questions of the data for each of the 25 countries and I present the questions and the associated findings for South Africa below (visit http://www.chartbookofeconomicinequality.com/ for more):
The above makes me question the effectiveness of some of our national policies. For example, given that unemployment is so high, did the reduction in poverty come about because of increased social support?
Is social support thus hindering our potential to grow and create a lasting solution to poverty reduction through taking money away from potentially lucrative investment opportunities?
Has black economic empowerment and broad-based black economic empowerment been effective (if so, where)? How long will BEE and BBBEE continue to be pursued when after more than a decade of implementation, income inequality has increased?
Promises and short-term results are one thing. The more important outcomes should be longevity and sustainability. As Pascal Lamy and Ian Goldin put it: “Excessive short-termism is always a problem for policy [and] a shift to longer-term solutions is necessary and possible.
"A key message is that businesses as well as governments need to take a longer-term view.” Are South Africa’s policies of today promoting progress or regress: will South Africa be a better place for our children and our children’s children?
As an example of an effective policy, read up about the Juvenile Robbery Intervention Program (J-RIP). To sum it up and provide you with the crux of the policy, Police Chief Jaffe initiated a programme in which a core group of juvenile criminals were observed 24/7 and ‘forced’ to attend school.
This was started in 2007 and the figures below show the results of this policy.
What is most striking to me is the almost immediate impact of the policy. Robberies fell in the very same year the programme was launched and continued to slide yearly.
There was a substantial drop in arrests from about 360 one year prior to the programme, to about 45 after one year – that is a drop in arrests of about 85%.
So I ask again, are South Africa’s policies of today promoting progress or regress?
- Fin24
* Geoffrey Chapman is a guest columnist and trade policy expert at the SABS. Views expressed are his own.
