The second decade: The South African Journal of Economic History 1996 to 2005¶
Jon Inggs (2005). The second decade: The South African Journal of Economic History 1996 to 2005. South African Journal of Economic History, 21(1). Economic History Society of Southern Africa.
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Comparative and methods |
| Method | synthesis review |
| Period studied | 1996–2005 |
| Regions | South Africa, Southern Africa |
| Themes | methods data sources, macro fiscal finance debt, mining migrant labour, agriculture land, manufacturing industrial policy, transition post apartheid, politics ideology elections |
| Citation key | inggs2005 |
Argument¶
This is a retrospective guide to the journal's second decade (Volumes 11-20, 1996-2005). It gives publication statistics, notes the editorial and production history, and offers an abstract of every article. Its value for the book is as a finding aid. It points to the special issues on the 1970s (Vol 14) and 1990s (Vol 18) and to individual articles on mining, agriculture, the fiscal and monetary history, and the 1970s watershed. It is a bibliographic survey, and the editors' own interpretive stance appears only in the abstracts it reproduces.
Evidence and method¶
Abstracts and summaries of the 98 articles published in the journal between 1996 and 2005, plus editorial and publication statistics (word counts, author affiliations, share of southern African themes).
Findings¶
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The journal's second decade was overwhelmingly southern African in focus, boosted by thematic special issues. (p. 1)
From almost 70 per cent in the first decade, 86 per cent of the 98 articles published since 1996 are on a southern African theme.
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The special issue on the 1970s frames that decade as the watershed from long-term growth to decline. (p. 14)
the decade of the 1970s marked a watershed in South African economic history as long-term economic growth gave way to long-term economic decline.
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Simkins characterises the National Party's response in the 1970s as reform on its own terms, including the incorporation of Black unions by 1980. (p. 15)
By 1980, it had conceded the incorporation of Black trade unions into the formal industrial relations system.
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Mohr links the mid-1970s stagnation to a binding balance-of-payments constraint after foreign capital inflows ceased. (p. 21)
From 1976 onwards South Africa could no longer rely on a spontaneous net inflow of foreign capital.
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Moncur and Jones report that mining wages rose and labour policy changed after the early-1970s unrest. (p. 17)
after the labour unrest of the early years of the decade, real wages rose substantially and stability returned to the industry
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Vink argues that 1970s state support for white commercial farming was the high point of intervention, with rising farm wages and employment. (p. 16)
The 1970s represent the high point of the era of state support to and control of ‘White’ commercial farming in South Africa.
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Jones attributes the post-1975 decline to factor-market shortcomings, including population growth, under-investment in education and union behaviour that encouraged capital substitution. (p. 32)
Highly politicised trade unions, that expanded rapidly and throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, acted as a drag upon the economy
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Jones also stresses that gold had masked structural inefficiencies until the monetary system changed. (p. 31)
Once the cushion of gold was removed, a more open approach to the international economy revealed the inefficiencies in the South African economy
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Mohr documents capital outflows through 1994, linked to repayments after the 1985 debt standstill, then a reversal after the transition. (p. 42)
Between January 1990 and June 1994 there was a steady net outflow of capital not related to reserves of almost R27 billion
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McCarthy finds the 1990s manufacturing record weak, with value added up modestly and jobs down. (p. 37)
with manufacturing value added in 2000 in real terms only 8,6 per cent higher than in 1990, but with 18 per cent fewer factory jobs in 2000 than in 1990.