The Economy of South Africa
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
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South Africa is an economy that is really important to understand as a kind of potential outcome case study of inequality gone bad. The nation itself, on paper at least is not so terrible, it is actually one of if not the wealthiest nation in all of Africa, trading back and forth quite frequently with Nigeria.
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📚 Want to learn more about the economy of South Africa? We recommend reading "Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa",
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#Economics #SouthAfrica #VideoEssay
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Sources & Citations -
Marais, H., 2001. South Africa: Limits to change: The political economy of transition
Fine, B., 2018. The political economy of South Africa: From minerals-energy complex to industrialisation
Magubane, B., 1979. The political economy of race and class in South Africa (Vol. 167). New York: Monthly Review Press.
Power, M., Newell, P., Baker, L., Bulkeley, H., Kirshner, J. and Smith, A., 2016. The political economy of energy transitions in Mozambique and South Africa: The role of the Rising Powers. Energy Research & Social Science
Arrow, K., Bowles, S. and Durlauf, S.N. eds., 2018. Meritocracy and economic inequality. Princeton University Press.
Reeves, A., 2017. Economics: The architecture of inequality. Nature, 543
Assouad, L., Chancel, L. and Morgan, M., 2018, May. Extreme Inequality: Evidence from Brazil, India, and South Africa. In AEA Papers and Proceeding
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As someone from South Africa who's never really understood my own country's economy, I appreciate this video it was very educational, especially since it came from an outside perspective.
Why didn't you include government spending and the poor quality of government services, or the constant buy out of state owned companies? Or the even poorer education system or at least some of the corruption where billions of Rands mysteriously disappear?
Do Botswana now
So what can be done to make South Africa better because we are struggling now more than ever
At 2:05 I imagined the cyberpunk 2099 trailer music starting to play during that fade to futuristic high rises and the camera descending down to the everyday citizen's view.
Though between 3:55 - 4:33 it's kinda like everyone in a board meeting would just be nodding our head, smiling and agreeing...
...while waiting for the naive idealist to leave the room so we can go back to discussing how to meet the needs of influential shareholders and turning our worker classes against each other so they can't unite to ask for wages that would give them the social mobility the idealist was rambling on about.
> china has a gini coefficient of 0.47
> shows 0.26
haha oh boy, throw it into the mistakes of 2020 video.
@@EconomicsExplained you've been pumping these out lately.
I don't know about everyone else, but I don't mind waiting a couple extra days per video if you're falling behind
@@andrasbeke3012 All these recent errors are non critical. They don't matter, especially when it's one or two per video. It's very understandable if in a 1000 second video, [editing] errors slip into 5 seconds.
@Boots Jew ??
@@EconomicsExplained
Excelent video anyway.
As a South African I believe our politics, economic policies and corruption play a big role in keeping most South Africans back. The government has failed us deeply in attracting investment and improving education.
Couldn’t have said it better!
Have you ever thought that maybe they actually do not want to improve the education system. Because education empowers people to think for themselves, hence they can’t be easily manipulated by the government. So as long as they can manipulate their people for their gain, they do not care.
@@leonardodefreitas6790 100%. That’s the only way they will stay in power. I believe most of our politicians and ministers are grossly incompetent and mediocre. They could never govern a country that has people that are well educated and hold them accountable.
People get the rulers they deserve.
people underestimate what apartheid did to the nation. if wealth is largely controlled by white people it means it’s largely going to circulate in those communities and has little trickle down effect
Discussing South Africa’s problems without mentioning mismanagement, incompetence and corruption is ridiculous!
In other words, ANC
Tats true ANC has to do a better. But also the citizen has to participate in making to change that especially people who are aware & in position to affect change.
Kinda what our country is built on these days, would you not say
True.... But because I love my country I will do anything I can to make change. If everyone who has a positive outlook or rational in South African can say I am gonna be or contribute to the Change I want to see. South Africa will be what is supposed to be.... Great and powerful. Here is a thought Ace magashule is gonna go to jail after tat 1000s of government official are gonna get aarested probably in a month or two where by the only thing you will see on TV is people getting arrested after tat. For the first time young people are gonna be in government. My point change is coming and it will be immediate mark my words.
You mean that the coloureds can run a country.
I am a South African and a few days ago my mom's phone got stolen, her car also got hijacked many years ago and we are in Johannesburg, so u are right that the crime rates are high in South Africa.
This what we call anecdotal evidence, it's not a sign of increasing crime. (not disagreeing on the increase in crime)
Nope in south Africa most of the crimes aren't done with malicious intent its for the money cause the way they see it anyone with a decent life style is part of the the elite rich group
@@daworld5446 So it is ok?
@@angelicadickson8666 no, the crime is bad, we get some extreme crime but most of the time crime can be avoided e.g dont go outside at night, use roads were there a more people.
When went to visit a relative in Jozi I heard gunfire from three different places
i was born and raised in rural south africa, our education system is honestly amongst the worst out there. my school had no library, no science laboratory, no sports fields at all, literally all we had was just classrooms, am part of the few lucky stories though coz i managed to acquire straight A's and pursue a career as a medical doctor. our institutions of higher learning are definitely better than average but our public school system is simply bullocks. not to mention the rampant corruption, even i myself am planning on leaving South africa within the next 5 years. the crime is just too much, i have been mugged roughly 6 times in my lifetime and am only 25.
Yeah our rural schools are really bad but our public schools in urban areas are pretty good. I went to a really good public school
"This is South Africa"
*Shows South Africa*
I see waht u did ther
My man!
Shame
Shows nairobi, Kenya at 1:22
Definitely not South African videos
"The income gini coefficient of
China is 0.47"
*Shows a penguin eating caviar
Prakhar Choudhary and it shows 0.26
@@BigBoss-ps6vk The joke was wasted on you
Big Boss
You fool
You abdolute buffoon
You fell for one of the classic blunders yet again.
I didn’t want to release my weapon of mass destruction this early, but you leave me no choice...
r/woooooooooooosh
Life is but a series of r/wooshes
@@BigBoss-ps6vk shut up normie
"This is Germany"
Shows Poland
Wait a sec...
*Blitzkrieg Intensifies*
Even after 60+ years, too soon
Blitzkrieg*
I never knew South Africa was so beautiful, greenery sliding off of humble mountains, pristine blue waters of the ocean, smooth roads winding up the hills. It's really incredibly beautiful.
The good videos are of the some best part of south africa, cape town. The bad video aren't of south africa.
It's stunningly beautiful here. Deserts to forests to rolling savannah. Unfortunately our leaders have always let us down. First the white guys under Apartheid and now everyone else.
@@karabosepeng9200 Yeah, also that only "2% of the population is living well" is bs. And also "gated communities with rich people who cant go anywhere because they will be kidnaped" is also a lie. When has a rich person ever been kidnaped in SA?
Thank you
@@josetheman239 www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/limpopo-businessman-kidnapped-car-found-abandoned-20210410
"This is South Africa."
*Shows Mars*
Fairly accurate, actually:
- almost no water
- would kill you quickly
- so far away most people forget to think about it
- has associations with Elon Musk.
@@hynjus001
Haha Lawl
FreeGoro 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@hynjus001 you're right on everything there except for the water problems... it's kinda like California in the way recent droughts have hurt it a lot but it's generally fine...
With this excuse you are not gonna be growing. Sounds to me like an excuse for laziness.
"China has a gini coefficient of 0.47"
Shows Turkey
Joke? I only see Shanghai...
As a South African, to hear inequality talked about without bringing up race is brilliant. Good video.
You haven't seen the video carefully, he talks about race, although just for an instant
And also unrealistic. They go hand in hand. White people are more advanced.
As a Kenyan, I was hoping that you guys can go all the way and become developed so that the rest of us would have a model to follow. But you are screwing up and it makes me so mad.
Danny Estrada
What?
You can't separate them- its like taking money out of politics or sport. The two things are inextricably linked
I was gonna say the crime isn't that bad but then it hit me that I live in a gated community with armed security guards that patrol 24/7 💀
Same lol
There is also the issue that your middle and upper classes are getting fed up watching their tax money be squandered.
Billions go missing or are part of "irregular expenditures" as the government calls it. The parastatal companies bleed money and are constantly being bailed out to the tune of billions by the taxpayer. We have a power provider that has a legal monopoly that spent years ignoring infrastructure maintenance while awarding performance bonuses and golden handshakes for tens of millions, so now we have rolling blackouts. Corruption infects every level of government, with nepotism and chronyism helping people get tenders that never see any actual results but the money has vanished.
We see these things every day and eventually get fed up with it and decide that things would be better elsewhere. It all adds into the stories on the news about 5 people being killed in a shooting, girl kidnapped, 60 thousand rand spent on KFC at a conference etc. Why stay when your hard-earned money is being thrown into the pocket of corrupt people?
Well said
Facts bro✊
and that's just the tip of the iceberg
Moved to Australia eleven years ago. Best decision I ever made...
I mean, I'm on fire, but at least I'm not in South Africa.
mans a strait up fax machine
''This is Finland''
*shows Estonia*
I literally came here searching for this comment 😂👍
Eh Estonia is basically Finland let’s be honest
This really breaks my heart, im a South African and this really breaks my heart and its true😢😢
How do you feel about what's happening now.
@@FARAventz same thing I wanted to know.
Finally someone who understands the South African economy ! As a South African, I've been dreading this
but he mentioned nothing of the rampant corruption and mismanagement of funds by the government of south africa
I listen to a lot of politics, economic videos, and try my best to seek out how people view the world and its intricacies. I have to say - your channel is one of the best I've seen for predicting what people think your biases are when presenting this type of data, acknowledging them in a rational way, and doing your best to promote a neutral view. I really appreciate how much effort you put into these videos and I laud you on how well the end product always is!
Do a video on the Cuban economy!
Perfect
Cuba is a slave plantation, and the Castro family are their owners. Easy.
It was a country with a weird economy where doctors earned less money than a taxi driver.If I'm not mistaking my last taxi driver that drives me to the airport was a former president of some sort of Cuban Architects association and he said the reason he does it because it was more profitable economically than his job as an architect and somehow the country's population is still depending on food rations from the government.They still used this method somehow in a modern-age of 2020.But local enterprises are becoming rampant in Havana's street with many offers satellite services for others to watch US TV shows.Paid them for a couple of bucks and I could tooned in to watch the last 2 episodes of Netflix's The Defenders
The ANC care about the poor. Every 4 years they give the poor a sandwich and the poor, in turn vote ANC.
I believe it's a bag of Ace pap. The ANC drives by in a convoy of brand new Audis, mercs and BMWs delivering said bag of shittty pap to buy votes.
No. Every 5 years the ANC merely promises them a sandwich, as long as they keep voting of course
The DNC love South Africa.
the sad truth
And how much do you "patriots" care about our country? You people are a disgrace to our country. Shame on you!
3:05, that's Tallinn, Estonia, not Finland. But I will forgive you that 80km mistake. :)
When you read the title and think ooo, that sound interesting. Click the video and the RUclipsr says 'this is South Africa' but you're from South Africa O_o
i feel like what you said is completely true, especially considering the recent rioting and looting, as well as considering myself one of the “upper- middle class” i see my peers and friends leaving the country constantly, as well as more and more people moving into gated, restrictive, “safer” environments, what annoys me is the root of these problems is the high corruption rate and misuse of tax money.
"the root of these problems is the high corruption rate and misuse of tax money."
No the root of the problems in South Africa is the racist colonial & apartheid system that provided the basis for a selfish and corrupt ANC elite to grab power.
People are clouded by "ideology" when it comes to voting instead of rational thought to vote for parties that'll develop our country.
I like how you start by building us up with rosy info
Right before that kick in the nuts.
@Colin Martin 😂😂 My thoughts exactly
As a South African, I can safely say you did great with this video. Very insightful.
The ecomomy of greece.
It still exist???
@@kx4998 Made my day
An empty video, then?
Nobody cares
*The not-economy of greece.
I have a few plausible reasons why half of South Africa lives in extreme poverty. As a South African myself I have a good insight to this issue so take this seriously and do your own research.
1. The government keeps on making empty promises to those living in poverty and those in poverty keeps on voting for the same party.
2. Since the end of Apartheid, the new government has made no to little effort to build new infrastructure like schools, hospitals and universities/colleges to support the entire nation. Infrastructure under Apartheid was build only for white people and after it ended no real improvement has being made.
3. The government is very corrupt and is basically selling South Africa out to the Chinese. The in competency of the government to make sound and rational policies as well as just doing basic management is what is actually leading to the country's downfall.
Most state companies under Apartheid was well managed and very profitable. Now today they are all failing because of corruption and fraud under the new government who simply can not run a country.
4. Racial tensions are heighten under the government itself. Causing a divide is never good for a country, hence the instability.
5. Education standards are being lowered to the point where you now only need 20% for math to pass. Thus no incentive is provided for students to excell. However, only white children are still performing relatively well because of their culture and their parents telling them to do good so they can go oversees, hence capital and white flight. The majority of job providers are white so this is probably the biggest problem.
6. Literally the food providers of South Africa are being targeted since they are white and own a lot of land. This is going to cause more white flight and a drop in food supply. Therefore killing of the country itself. It also doesn't help that the government does not call this a national emergency and who also states that it is not racially motivated. Except that the majority of farmers are white and that the government want to cease their land.
There are other reasons too but I geus this gives somewhat of insight into the issue at hand.
This video encouraged me to learn more about economics.
4:10 thought this was about to be a skillshare ad
Convergant It would’ve been a good time for one.
tired skillshare ads
"China has a gini coefficient of 0.47"
*shows a genie in a bottle*
Here in Brazil we have something we call 'bolsa familia' that is a direct transfer policy that pulls anyone bellowpoverty line to just above the poverty line. At first we thought it would be a policy just to mask numbers, but it was actually acknowledged as one of the best social policys in the world. It drastically reduces poverty, increases consumption in the economy and is way more effective than any other policy that claims to help the poor. It is inspired in something an nobel wining economist once said about negative income tax
As a South African, the key point is the education gap and the failure of government to address this in a progressive manner. Also failure to deliver basic services, and the rampant public sector corruption
As a South African I don't need to read the comments to know that this will be a very combustible topic
3:18 "0.47" and shows the same as in Finland.
This is definitely true. What shocked me when going oversees and still feels weird to me is how none of the houses have fences. Here if you own a house you have a 3 or 4 meter high wall and an electric fence with surveillance cameras just to avoid break ins. A lower middle-income person living in a high security fortress probably sounds crazy for everyone too, but that's just what you have to do here to live safely. That or live in a gated community which are called estates here, but they are mainly for upper middle-income citizens which earn at least the equalivant of $50 000 or more a year which is a lot here and you basically live the mansion life with that money and you feel truly rich without really being rich. I only really feel safe walking around in these communities, and I would never walk in the CBD of Johannesburg because of crime.
As a black South African, it's a relief to find someone not blaming it on race. Wealth is accumulating in one area and our own black government is playing a major role in that, our small towns have little to no water & electricity. While suburban areas are experiencing good quality life
SA has been ruled by the ANC for the last 30 years (almost). It hasn't experienced civil war or major civil unrest since the end of apartheid. How could it be considered politically unstable other than its poor economy? At that point it becomes an ontological question. I found the analysis in this video very shallow.
I also didn't quite understand why he considered south african as unstable, doesn't really make sense
Kieren Van Der Haar high crime
Probably due to all the protests and shop looting
It's because the lack of coherent policy, political leaders constantly being kicked out due to corruption or other reasons and the continuous rise and fall of political parties that makes it almost impossible to predict past the next few years. SA has been run by the ANC for 26 years and it will likely be run by the ANC for many years to come, but what that actually looks like is going to be near impossible to predict.
0:33 that wave smacked someone way too hard looooool
AJAJAJAJA
AS a South African, you are dead on with 99% of your points. well done very good and acurate video
As a South African who has moved to Switzerland, thank you for your video. I like how you explored the different perspectives.
1:53 "You would be forgiven for thinking that it is actually a pretty average global nation"
Did that just say 40% unemployment?!? I wouldn't exactly call that average.
Lol yeah we have 40% unemployment. One thing this video left out was that we just had an extremely corrupt president (Jacob Zuma) who basically ran the government into bankruptcy and left the country in a near state of anarchy. Luckily he was impeached and we're now rebuilding from the ashes.
@@matthew4581 its techincally 40% unemployemt of people that are looking for work. Far, Far more than that have given up. :/
@@matthew4581 lol there no such thing as impeachment in south africa constitution, president just get fired.
No...official unemployment is close to 30%.
And yeah, pretty surprising now imagine my shock when I saw the same level of unemployment in Greece, Spain, Argentina at ~23%
@Ty Tannick Beats
That is a lot money not getting taxed.
But it should tell us something about the economy too and it's reliance on public transportation.
Public transportation is usually associated with poor people right, so could one say then, that there's a direct correlation between the level of poverty a country has, and the size of its public transportation industry?
Number of billionaires depends on the currency you count in. You counted in dollars, SA has significantly more than that when counting in Rands. And considering that those billionaires pay their living expenses in Rands... Dollars is an inappropriate measure
That makes literally zero sense Rands is not a strong currency. You need a scale for reference when you talk about rich people otherwise you could say that everyone in Zimbabwe is rich. It needs to be compared to a stronger world currency like the dollar or euro.
“This is South Africa”
Shows North Africa
»My lifestyle, determines my death style!« - Metllica
"Why live in a fortress fearing for your life when you can live in a fully developed country?" - Every corrupt politician agrees
Why does this sound like a softer version of Rhodesia -> Zimbabwe?🤔
@2:06, should have been "...But this all changes when the thieving ANC government is mentioned".
I think your assessment that this is a rich vs poor story - basically - in the South African context is inaccurate - this is a story of tolerance of mediocrity(generously), coupled with unrealistic idealism.
Without doubt we started with a criminal race-based imbalance 25+years ago - however the disastrous implementation of debatable policies by the ruling African National Congress party, combined with their short sighted 'cadre' deployment policy has resulted unskilled people being deployed to positions of considerable power followed by state-scale looting of state resources as well as infrastructural decay due to poor planning and execution at country scale.
It is not uncommon for a liberation orientated political movement to faire poorly once transitioning into government as the skills are rarely transferable - yet ironically still maintain relatively large scale support for social grant dependant populace - this is funded by decreasing tax base - as middle/upper class individuals are frustrated by blatant consequence-free incompetence and direct looting.
It is indeed the case - that in a democracy - people have to hold politicians to account - or else they get what they voted for, and it is the poor that continue to elect and support the same party that is ironically perceived to have liberated them - but is actually now ensnaring them.
It may take a generation that has no emotionally attachment - yet continues to experience hardship and lack of promised progress to change the course - that is however very risky and fraught with short sighted populism.
In the end people choose to stay in South Africa because of the huge potential given appropriate political leadership - infra structurally it is the most developed country, with modern financial systems and incentives for business creation - as well as a huge (by heavily politicised ) labour market.
What is needed is principled leadership, rooted in accountability and consequence. There are green shoots in the Zondo commission unearthing the scale of malfeasance - and hopefully leading to prosecutions - but the road is long and fundamentally it's people at election time that must make different choices.
facts
Hey EE. I love the content you are creating. It is very insightful. Have you maybe considered a video about the economy of Nigeria?
One thing people forget to mention is that, South Africa has a Socialist government that loots state funds, the only reason why South Africa has a functioning economy is because of the private sector (Capitalistic). Majority of the population is dependent on the government while only a few are dependent on the private sector.
Pretty much.
EE: However, this all starts to fall apart when we look at this one little figure...
Me, folding laundry on the other side of the room, not looking at the video: is it the GINI coefficient perchance? The one where a score of 0 means everyone has exactly the same and 1 means one person owns absolutely everything, which can be used as a measurement of both wealth and income? just a wild stab in the dark
The South African model is basically the future of western Europe
I think the US is more apt, even the violence levels are a match for match. Europe isnt anywhere as close as violent as the US is
@@TheMrgoodmanners "Europe isn't anywhere as close as violent as the US" No, but it's slowly getting there. Plus I was mostly referring to the growing wealth inequality and decreasing social mobility, as well as the toxic habit of the government of using racial tension as a way to divert attention away from their blatant corruption
@@calimerohnir3311 i see. But europe isnt anywhere as near as diverse as tge US and SA are. I think comparing europe to SA is a bad comparison and am saying this as an african. SA is bad, the violence is out of control even by any third world standards, the only countries that i can think of that are this bad are mexico brazil colombia and the US
@@TheMrgoodmanners I think you are being a little harsh and comparing US violence to Mexico and Brazil. More than Europe yes.
This view is from an objective textbook perspective. More appropriate to petri-dish than a country. And it lacks the perspective of the timeline of what has happened in SA. It is the supposed champions of equality, socialists, who have wrecked the economy. After apartheid ended things were going really very well. Unemployment was falling, the economy growing. SA enjoyed immense support from the international community. Even respect. More and more people included in the economy every year. Then a whole generation of politicians came into power 10 years ago who have been systematically dismantling the economy. The electricity grid and other infrastructure has been sucker punched through neglect and corruption. Anti-growth, and socially divisive policy the order of the day. A program of systematic state capture through crony capitalism among the supposed socialists and external players like the infamous Guptas. The country's external debt rising stratospherically. The public wage bill (having been seen as a way to increase employment) grown to the point where it eats up almost the entire budget along with external debt servicing. The country's sovereign credit rating FUBAR. Even one of our state owned corporations, ESKOM, now has debt equal to about 10% of the country's GDP! And electricity supply is now sporadic to the point where large factories are closing down and foreign businesses leaving the country. Leading to 100s of thousands more jobs being lost every year, and economic growth effectively hard-capped at 1% at best.
It is only then that the wealthy started to really leave. And more importantly, not only the wealthy, but also the skilled - From poor to wealthy skilled people have been leaving over the last decade. Because it became clear the country had in short order transitioned from a growing economy to one which, considering population growth vs sub 1% economic growth, was effectively going backwards.
In the story of the tortoise and the hare. SA was somewhere in-between 10 years ago. Faster than a tortoise, but more steady than a hare. A very good place to be and things were looking very good for the future. Then it was like the politicians suddenly decided that no... SA is in fact the tortoise and they would grab it by it's shell and try and push it faster than the hare. Obviously an infantile course of action. Whatever SA was 10 years ago is now shredded beyond recognition. Of course it only seems that way. Actually what happened was that a crop of corrupt politicians started eating the country alive during the race.
Had the government focused on stable economic growth rather than grand social experiments the communists love so much, and had the state capturers been prevented from gaining power in the first place (cadre deployment being the main enabling mechanism that lead to "state capture"), and had unemployment been steadily decreased (currently at 29% of working age individuals) then SA's GINI number would look more like China's. Probably even better than that. In 2008 our GDP was on a trajectory to grow 2X to 4X over time up to this point. Instead since then the economy has at best segued.
See: The lost decade
One of the major issues in South Africa is the entrenched high levels of unemployment (around 35%), which make it extremely hard to lift millions out of poverty. To attend to this the State pumps huge amounts of tax revenue into social services such as public schools, hospitals (which are free) as well as an income grant to the unemployed. The problem is that none of these services are of good quality (due to mismanagement and rampant corruption) nor are enough to lift the population out of poverty. Instead, they make millions dependent on the State for their needs. The current ANC government has also failed (intentionally) to make South Africa an attractive place to do business and draw in the foreign capital needed to build businesses and create jobs, which evidently would lower the unemployment rate and lift people out of poverty. South Africa needs the sort of economic policies that have driven the economic boom of South East Asia over the past few decades, but outdated socialist ideologies and croney capitalism remain entrenched in the system by the ANC government, who themselves benefit from the current status quo. The failure of so many State Owned Enterprises and Municipalities, many bankrupt and unable to deliver basic services is a testament to the issue at hand.
Last time i was this early apartheid was still a thing.
Do Israel’s economy, please. Thanks!
No
Isreal takes billions of dollars from Germany and the us
Israel has 400 billionaires and 360 of them are US duel citizens.
youtube comment youtube comment And Israel should still continue to earn money from Germany
@@kinanshmahell8065 Still less than the Arabs collect for the oil they themselves can't even monetize without the help of skilled workers from Asia, America and Europe. As soon as oil becomes obsolete due to other energy sources, the Arab economy will march to the museum. Israeli brains will never die as long as Israel exists. Because its culture encourages doubt and intellectual exploration. This breeds creativity by definition. That's why any 'aid' Israel receives from USA and Europe should be seen as an investment. With a huge yield. Hate it or love it: you must respect it. Facts don't care about your feelings.
The solutions to fixing SA's problems are pretty simple.
1) Provide quality education for all
2)Provide a business friendly environment.
3)Guarantee property rights.
4)Reduce corruption and incompetence in State departments
Unfortunately , the ruling party is riddled with corruption and incompetence , combined with a communist mindset and a racial inferiority complex.
A change of government is needed . The power of the current government is slowly waning but there is also a possibility that a new government may be worse than the current one.
Great video!
“This is Finland”. Shows Estonia :D Thanks for the compliment. Love the content !
Almost all of my wealthier family have left already. I'm studying at university right now and I will for sure be of able to leave if I want to. I feel so bad.
I keep asking myself whether my life, my wife and my kids matter more to me than my countrymen.
Don't view these people as your countrymen. They'd probably kill you for you money. Your family is more important.
@@cassuso4902 they are our country men and our ancestors shed some serious blood for this soil. We are all made to suffer together. maybe they would kill me for my money and i would want vengeance but if you have over 40% unemployment then the blame probably falls a little wider.
@@hugomaritz692 Your ancestors would spit on you for giving away a country they bled for, even worse that you consider the people who robbed you of a country and continue to attack you as your "countrymen "
@@hugomaritz692 The suffer together part is hard to follow if you can leave and spare your children. It’s a difficult decision but most are going to choose to leave.
@@hugomaritz692 I understand vengeance but would you sit around and let that happen if you could leave?
One thing that was not said, and I think is worth pointing out, is that South Africa is very low on the economic freedom index. Lack of freedom is a factor in continued poverty.
Richard Harris. YES YES YES! You do know we are slipping down the rankings. It fills me with shame when countries like Rwanda, Uganda and Madagascar surpass us on the indexes.
It's due to too much government interference.
The biggest problem in South Africa is by far the corruption.
Where my SA gang at
🤝🏿🤝🏻🍺
Poes
🇿🇦
Here
Internet is too slow for us to be here lol
The unbias is strong with this one!
Discussions on inequality in this country have so often leaned toward the opinions of the “dominant economic society” -playing down the history of the country, the effects of generational wealth and magnifying the failings of the democratically elected governments of recent.
Great video!
OMG, I’m South African and I’m really happy that we got a detailed video about us that isn’t overtly political. Thank you 🙏🏾
I love your aussie accent mate👌🏻
South Africa could've been developed by now, it's been 25 years since the end of aparthide and many people could have been middle class by this time, but the government went down the corrupt route instead, the country still has potential but it needs to be used ASAP.
@Robin Truby The national party screwed south Africa by implementing apartheid laws.
@@laplace99 : Very true! If South Africa didn't have Apartheid, I can't even imagine the level they'd be at!
The underlying theory with an economist is that the planet exists to be exploited. Thus the idea of profits surpasses the idea of utility. The ideal economic scenario is for everyone to have what they need when they need it. That way utility is maximized. Making the world into a profit scenario means some will have redundant utility and others will have small utility. Basically, the idea of profits creates financial winners and losers on the inequality scale and not a uniform utility for goods and services that meets the needs of people when they need it or desire it.
South African here. The poverty is truly brutal. There are homeless people begging at every street light and people live in little lean to shacks without access to sanitation. Unemployment is officially 29% but real unemployment is closer to 40%. I have a job and live in a house in a suburb but less than 10km away from me people are dying of TB in hovels built on wetlands that flood every winter. I have no idea how we can solve the problems in our economy and society. We are in deep crisis and the government is paralysed by corruption.
@economics explained If there is capital flight from SA, don't you think that over time even upper-middle citizens wont be able to move to prime European (Southern England, Swizerland, Northern Europe) or the US location over time? Assuming that their main source of net worth is property and pension funds tied to South Africa their wealth drops along with South Arican economy (even if you have a nice. Villa in gated community you need to sell it to someone who is willing to move to SA, otherwise you have only unsellable wealth on paper)
You missed the biggest risk to the economy currently i.e. Eskom and downgrades. As a South African who follows current affairs, those two topics always pop up.
Wdym downgrades
South Africa has 55 Million People, 15 Million People on Social Grants, and 3 Million active tax payers... you are correct, its very unequal. oh and 15 million people vote ANC...
The problem with our country is that when apartheid ended, policies were put in place to uplift the previously disadvantaged population. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, how it was put in motion is a disgrace though. The government, majority being part of the previously disadvantaged population, used their power to only uplift themselves and the people in their 'good graces". The policies they put in place was to enrich themselves and not the general population. They increased taxes to improve infrastructure, but awarded tenders to their business associates regardless if they could do the job. lots of other instances like this in all economic sectors.
Hey, dudes - when you discuss Gini coefficient in Finland, the shot is from Tallinn, Estonia :) Otherwise fascinating content as always.
With minor errors here and there, I can't deny its a good video. What you could've also added though, was that after the end of apartheid, crime periodically escalated as the country experienced unprecedented amounts of illegal immigration in search of a better livelihood which is what Mandela represented. Kinda like the promise Biden made.
Thank you for showing a economic perspective on South Africa, the country needs fixing to move forward.
Saw the thumbnail and knew already they're talking about South Africa
From my experience, the majority of the wealthy in South Africa are the politicians, it seems to be the most lucrative job you can have. If you are a black businessman wanting help, get involved in politics and overprice everything, government pays you and your family, you are now very wealthy people.
you’re wrong. the majority of rich people in sa are white people
Brandon, you are completely off the mark
@@marcelohendrix6139
Responsible for most of the wealth produced in SA.
@@shauncameron8390 of course they are.. they came to sa and stole land and made it as difficult as possible for black south africans to earn an education
'Other things being equal': economists' favorite expression.
So the poors in South Africa have similar lives and incomes to average citizens in nearby African countries. Maybe we should ask a wider question about Africa then rather than focusing on a single country.
1:35 is Kenya not South Africa. You failed
“South Africa”
- shows China ...
Thanks so😳 much for making this video. South Africa is under a spell making people think we're equal when we're not.
In South Africa critiquing the corrupt ANC government, brands you a racist. It's not a race issue. It's an issue of utter incompetence.
Didn't talk about the "racial tensions," except in just mentioning capital flight as a result of criminal activity? Or about land appropriation from "the white man" to party loyalists who don't know how to farm?
LOL they didn't learn from Zimbabwe
@@stevencooper4422 We have a different kind of economy, land appropriation will fuck us up, but we have different circumstances to Zimbabwe.
Do more videos on the economy of the United States
He has
17 percent trump 2020
1:22 Dude I really love your videos But you messed again. That's actually NAIROBI, KENYA.
It all looks collapsed and run-down, so no difference really.
@@mich722 whatever helps u sleep soundly dude...
A's #1 best-selling travel/tourism book: 'South Africa on $5.(50) a Day'.
That was a good watch. I have seen alot of our people starting to make alot of socially responsible investments into the country. Which has encouraged alot of us to do the same. Exploring the country and contributing to our travel and tourism industry and supporting local small to medium businesses. I must say I am proud of the the steps we have taken as proud South Africans (well.. those of us we come across) as citizens regardless of the government (whether good or bad) or the discrimination we still experience throughout our lives which add to the gap we see. What the previously advantaged might not comprehend or fail to acknowledge is that the adverse affects of the previous regime are real. We have those who know about Black tax and those who despise the black economic empowerment as an effort to breaching the gap because why is anyone trying to reconcile the obvious disparities that apartheid left is with.. how dare these africans do that.. who do they think they are.. right? Pfft. Having been raised by parents who were products of bantu education and relocated to basically "the bush" a vast difference of their white counterparts our parents made sure that we get ourselves educated and learn from our history in such a way that we use it as a strength and encouragement. I must say I am so proud of our nations people who still pushes forward and contributing to this beautiful country we call home (this goes for the whole rainbow nation). To those who are fighting the good fight, giving back and standing up against the othering we are still experiencing within South Africa I would just like to say ..We see you,We love you and we stand with you in building this nation. May mama Africa continue to bless us with the spirit of Ubuntu.
You are absolutely right about economic inequality in SA. The problem is that the 5% wealthy people likely to share their wealth among themselves. If that wanted SA to do better they would've at least create an opportunity for employment by spreading their wealth. Unemployment is considered one of the huge major issues in our country. Job seeking can be so stressful as it may take years for someone to find a stable job. And it's not like the other percentage aren't educated enough to qualify for a job that's really good because that's not entirely true. I think we're more educated now than we were 2 decades ago. It's just that mainly nepotism and some form of corruption can get you a job you've desired for. It's like, you have to have connections with someone who's already at the top to get a job. And I tell it's so sickening. What disgusts me more about this norm is mostly done by black SAn entrepreneurs. As a black man, I can truly tell you that these black entrepreneurs don't want to other black folks to succeed, which is sad.
This is basically the same problem you see in most of Latin America and to some degree also in the USA. It is largely due to the legacy and consequences left over from colonialism, slavery and appartheid. The only way to reverse this is to implement several decades worth of income and wealth redistribution through the implementation of a nordic model. The main problem with implementing this however is overcoming the racism and classism of rich wealthy white people not wanting to pay more taxes to help poor black and brown people.
Well I just had a thought - the gdp per capita of India is ~ 2000$ and GDP per capita of US ~62,000$ . Yet the minimum wage in India is ~2$ and the minimum wage in US is ~ 8$. Also 12.5%of US is underfed whereas 14% of India is underfed . So , I know that GDP and GDP per capita figures don’t tell everything but still shouldn’t the USA be more unequal on any index , with such a low minimum wage and more than a tenth of the population being underfed .
"Finland" *shows image of Estonia*
Coming from South Africa I would also say look at corruption as well.
We have lost a lot of money earmarked for development due to corruption.
Public sector wage bill is also extremely high. It accounts for almost 50% of total government expenditure every year. Most countries are between 5% and 25%.
Couple this with mismanagement of state owned enterprises and constantly requiring them to be bailed out you have a problem.
If you can target all of these above-mentioned problems you can already allocate a lot more funds in addressing our issues. Better education, more hospitals, more housing programmes, assistance to small to medium sized businesses development.
As a South African in my humble opinion the biggest problem for the country is the relatively strong currency. A weaker currency would literally benefit everyone of the major industries in South Africa: tourism, mining, manufacturing, agriculture and the services industry in general. It would make our goods and services extremely competitive(considering our excellent trade agreements like AGOA) which will stimulate exports while in turn limiting imports thus more local manufacturing. If this can happen we can start employing more of our young graduates(we have on average 1000 000 students enrolled at university) which in turn will increase local consumption. This is the silver bullet - a weak currency - that will put the economy into overdrive.
The currency has over the past 15 years lost nearly 60% of it’s value? Shouldn’t we be seeing some benefit by now? What we need is a stable currency that maintains value against the other currencies, a more business friendly economic environment and a better education system.
Dude, slow down the uploads/ higher a fact checker. I know your just trying to keep up with RUclips's brutal algorithm and you got bills to pay. I've been a huge fan since day 1! Keep up the good work.
*hire
you're
I live in South Africa and when I was younger and first went overseas I was so shocked that they didn’t have huge walls to keep people out 😂
Oliver Young
What's South Africa like currently? Are there any signs of improvement?
@@lawbringer9857 in all honesty, it depends where you live and where you were raised. I live in a small town, in an area where barely anyone has high walls all around their houses, however this area is majority Indian, there's also an area about 300m away that's majority white with huge walls surrounding all the houses, and the entire town is bordered by informal settlements where the majority of black people live. From what I've experienced, social media and the internet portrays a very different image than what's actually going on, but that isn't to say that racism still isn't a serious problem, and most people will advocate for their own race and are prejudiced against others, no matter who they are.
I live in South Africa. The problem isn't racial, its cultural. Our universities are bursting with people getting degrees in arts, languages, history and other humanities. Fine for a developed country. Not here. When over than 80% of high school leavers have literally no aptitude in basic math you have a problem.
Mind sharing more of your experiences with this topic
Economy of... -Rhodesia- Union of South Africa when ?! :D
Your comment is very confusing. I am not sure what Rhodesia(Now known as Zimbabwe) has to do with South Africa? These are 2 different countries.
@@tebohomotsoeneng5994 Implication is that South Africa is heading the same direction as Zimbabwe.
@@tebohomotsoeneng5994 A lot, both former British colonies, both were ruled by white minority after gaining independence, Zimbabwe took away land from white farmers and suffered a famine and South Africa is looking to do the same.
@@afrovarangian you're just making up reasons.
The question was directed at the commenter.
Only he knows why he said that.
@@gino9094 You too