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Not Separate, Not Equal: Poverty and Inequality in Post-Apartheid South Africa

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  • Johannes G. Hoogeveen
  • Berk ??zler

Abstract

As South Africa conducts a review of the first ten years of its new democracy, the question remains as to whether the economic inequalities of the apartheid era are beginning to fade. Using new, comparable consumption aggregates for 1995 and 2000, this paper finds that real per capita household expenditures declined for those at the bottom end of the expenditure distribution during this period of low GDP growth. As a result, poverty, especially extreme poverty, increased. Inequality also increased, mainly due to a jump in inequality among the African population. Even among subgroups of the population that experienced healthy consumption growth, such as the Coloureds, the rate of poverty reduction was low because the distributional shifts were not pro-poor.

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes G. Hoogeveen & Berk ??zler, 2005. "Not Separate, Not Equal: Poverty and Inequality in Post-Apartheid South Africa," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp739, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
  • Handle: RePEc:wdi:papers:2005-739
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Poverty; Inequality; South Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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