M.Com. (Economics) / The objective of this thesis is to describe the nature of the South African economic system for the period 1970-1985 in macroeconomic terms. As an introduction to the specific analysis of the South African economic system, the author also discusses the socio-economic nature of economic systems per see Based on an identification- and classification framework which was developed as a result of a literature survey in this regard, the author made extensive use of the Quarterly Bulletins of the South African Reserve Bank and the South African Statistical Service's two-yearly publication of collective South African statistics in order to analyse the nature and extent of the most important macroeconomic variables in the South African economy. As a resu 1t of the macroeconomic analysis, the author came to a number of conclusions regarding the South African economic system during the period 1970-1985. The conclusions were, inter alia: The South African economic system could best be described as a mixed economy in which the Government played a substantial and increasingly important role in terms of its contribution to the GDP and other important macroeconomic variables. Although South Africa experienced an average increase in its real GDP of approximately 2,6% per year, the country had an average yearly population growth of 2,8% during the relevant period, with the result that the real per capita GOP in 1985 was lower than the corresponding 1970 figure. It should also be noted that the GOP declined in real terms for the first time in fifty years between 1981 and 1983 and between 1984 and 1985. Other meaningful conclusions concerned the drastic decline in the purchasing power of the Rand, the substantial influence of the foreign sector of the economy, the disparity between the average compensation packages for the White and Nonwhite subgroups of the population, the changing importance of the different sectors of the economy in terms of their contribution to the GOP and other economic variables, an increase in the percentage of women who were active in the economy during this period, the poor performance of the multi input index of productivity, sharp fluctuations in company savings and a greater reliance on passive forms of business income.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:11258 |
| Date | 29 May 2014 |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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