Haroon Bhorat – författare

In 1994 South Africa saw the end of apartheid. The new era of political freedom was seen as the foundation for economic prosperity and inclusion. The last two decades have seen mixed results. Economic growth has been volatile. While inequalities in public services have been reduced, income inequality has increased, and poverty has remained stagnant. As the twentieth anniversary of the transition to democracy approaches in 2014, the economic policy debates in South Africa are in full flow. They combine a stocktake of the various programs of the last two decades with a forward looking discussion of strategy in the face of an ever open but volatile global economy. Underlying the discourse are basic and often unresolved differences on an appropriate strategy for an economy like South Africa, with a strong natural resource base but with deeply entrenched inherited inequalities, especially across race. This volume contributes to the policy and analytical debate by pulling together perspectives on a range of issues: micro, macro, sectoral, country wide and global, from leading economists working on South Africa. Other than the requirement that it be analytical and not polemical, the contributors were given freedom to put forward their particular perspective on their topic. The economists invited are from within South Africa and from outside; from academia and the policy world; from international and national level economic policy agencies. The contributors include recognized world leaders in South African economic analysis, as well as the very best of the younger crop of economists who are working on the study of South Africa, the next generation of leaders in thought and policy.

Examining the economic forces that will shape Africa's future.Africa’s Lions examines the economic growth experiences of six fast growing and/or economically dominant African countries. Expert African researchers offer unique perspectives into the challenges and issues in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, and South Africa.Despite a growing body of research on African economies, very little has focused on the relationship between economic growth and employment outcomes at the detailed country level. A lack of empirical data has deprived policymakers of a robust evidence base on which to make informed decisions. By harnessing country-level household, firm, and national accounts data together with existing analytical country research—the authors have attempted to bridge this gap.The growth of the global working-age population to 2030 will be driven primarily by Africa, which means that the relationship between growth and employment should be understood within the context of each country’s projected demographic challenge and the associated implications for employment growth. A better understanding of the structure of each country’s workforce and the resulting implications for human capital development, the vulnerably employed, and the working poor, will be critical to informing the development policy agenda.As a group, the six countries profiled in Africa’s Lions will largely shape the continent's future. Each country chapter focuses on the complex interactions between economic growth and employment outcomes, within the individual Africa’s Lions context.

Creating productive jobs for growing a labor force is both one of the world’s greatest challenges as well as one of its greatest economic opportunities, and one of the most consequential global megatrends. Nowhere is the job creation challenge more acute than for young people in Africa. In response to this challenge and to also address Africa’s structural economic transformation, the Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings has undertaken research on the prospects for large-scale job creation through the development of ‘industries without smokestacks’ including tourism, agro-processing, horticulture, and services that has revealed a promising path forward. This book is the first to document the potential for non-traditional industries to address the formal sector job creation that is critical for Africa to simultaneously harness its demographic dividend and achieve structural transformation. In the face of premature deindustrialization, many economists have voiced pessimism about Africa’s ability to replicate past economic development models. The book also documents the potential of an alternative economic development model for Africa based on industries without smokestacks. Finally, the book suggests practical policy solutions to realize the potential of these industries

Creating productive jobs for growing a labor force is both one of the world’s greatest challenges as well as one of its greatest economic opportunities, and one of the most consequential global megatrends. Nowhere is the job creation challenge more acute than for young people in Africa. In response to this challenge and to also address Africa’s structural economic transformation, the Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings has undertaken research on the prospects for large-scale job creation through the development of ‘industries without smokestacks’ including tourism, agro-processing, horticulture, and services that has revealed a promising path forward. This book is the first to document the potential for non-traditional industries to address the formal sector job creation that is critical for Africa to simultaneously harness its demographic dividend and achieve structural transformation. In the face of premature deindustrialization, many economists have voiced pessimism about Africa’s ability to replicate past economic development models. The book also documents the potential of an alternative economic development model for Africa based on industries without smokestacks. Finally, the book suggests practical policy solutions to realize the potential of these industries