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Improving the Business Environment

In: Can South and Southern Africa become Globally Competitive Economies?

Author

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  • Paul Holden

Abstract

An important question for South Africa is whether the business environment is sufficiently conducive to private sector activity to promote investment at levels which will result in growth rates high enough to eradicate the poverty in which a large section of the population lives. If it is not, then the consequences are serious because there is substantial experience that the state cannot replace the private sector in bringing prosperity to its citizens. State ownership of resources or of productive units has invariably been associated with low productivity and high cost which has harmed rather than helped economic activity. Further-more, the possibility of aiding the less fortunate through wholesale redistribution of wealth is not a sustainable option: there is ample evidence that, while the state can confiscate wealth, it cannot redistribute it. Therefore, the private sector, which is made up of firms and markets, has to be the engine for growth. This paper examines the business environment in South Africa through the perspective of the experience of Latin America over the past 30 years.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Holden, 1996. "Improving the Business Environment," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Gavin Maasdorp (ed.), Can South and Southern Africa become Globally Competitive Economies?, chapter 16, pages 182-195, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-24972-5_17
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-24972-5_17
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