My articles share my insights. Sometimes it is about policy and at other times about entrepreneurship.
Category Inequality in South Africa
Is a Coordinating Role for the Department of Economic Development Enough?
A central message from government since the 2009 elections is that the “economy needs coordination.” To this end, in addition to the already existing National Treasury and the Department of Trade and Industry, government has created the Economic Development Department…
Eskom’s Electricity Pricing Juggernaut
“Give us massive price increases or the lights will once again go out,” is the nub of the message from Eskom to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA). This simple and powerful posture by Eskom however hides the…
Manuel’s ‘Vision 2025’: Is Civil Society Up to the Challenge?
Often civil society activism seems like a mixture of dissatisfaction and hope without much impact on the real world. Activists are usually conscious of the formidable odds against “change” because of the all encompassing and rarely adequately defined structures of…
The South African Economy: Polarisation Paralysis and the Struggle for Equity
An emerging description of the South African economy is captured in the words “polarisation paralysis.” The term has several renderings and different emphasis across academic disciplines, with important nuance and extensions. Another rendering is that it might provide a metaphor…
Social Grants Dismantle Structural Poverty, They Don’t Create Dependency
Do individuals spend their money better than families? This foundational question in the design of income support programmes for the poor has not been robustly debated. Instead, the strong and robust debates have historically focussed on the possibilities of the…
Motor Industry Rescue Plan Smacks of Corporate Welfarism
Current debates on the motor industry rescue plan remind me of the origins of the term “Hobson’s choice”. The phrase draws from a Mr. Hobson that rented out horses, and gave his customers no choice as to which horse they…
M-Web retrenchments: Just like that
M-Web have confirmed rumours that it will be retrenching about 7% of its staff. The number of jobs is about 66, out of about 1 000, according to its CEO, Rudi Jansen, speaking on The World at Six radio programme. The…
Margaret Legum: Thought Leader extraordinaire
In the traffic this morning, I was saddened to learn of the death of Margaret Legum. Margaret was an advocate for new economics. Her columns in newspapers provided a rare view that we could be doing better, and a view…
Why Adrian Mole is more important than Browse Mole
The so-called Browse Mole Report presumably provided all the head honchos of the ANC with worried bedtime reading, and for all of us yet another twist in the succession politics. Another worry for the leadership is that a seditious poem…