With the domestic market out of puff, locals producing services and products for foreign markets will rake in cash and boost skills Is attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) a panacea or another flavour-of-the-day pseudo solution that distracts from unlocking the country’s growth potential? The short answer is that SA needs to attract a specific type…Continue reading Export-led foreign investment is the answer to SA’s economic woes

SA’s national debates are stuck on how the past affects the future, while Asian countries have thrown off the past by creating value Horrific education outcomes limit growth prospects, yet this encourages the poor to support the governing party as their reliance on the government deepens. More surprisingly, the high end of our national debates…Continue reading The focus on redistribution, rather than growth, keeps the country poor

Politicsweb.co.za | 21 March 2019 Shawn Hagedorn writes on the insights that could be brought to bear on our predicament No international expert is better qualified to diagnose SA’s multi-dimensional disconnects than Francis Fukuyama. He will give a live-streamed lecture from Johannesburg next Thursday evening. The event is hosted by the CDE which previously arranged…Continue reading Fukuyama in SA

Business Day 12 MARCH 2019 Learning from mistakes, and from others, requires objective assessments of both political and economic policies With risks intensifying as the elections near, why are none of the political parties or influential actors able to offer comprehensive, workable solutions? Or rather, how did politics crowding out evidence-based analysis become the norm?…Continue reading World has many lessons for an SA blinded by politics and prisms

SA’s ruling party interprets its electoral support as a mandate to use its resulting legislative powers to remedy historical injustices. This political interpretation is no doubt accurate but that doesn’t mean it is economically workable. The ruling party has much scope to shape the purchasing patterns of domestic businesses and households whereas Dependency theory in…Continue reading Outlining SA’s underlying disconnect: Power, poverty and aspirations

Politicians are choosing the expedient populist route ahead of the election instead of tackling the root problem Business Day 13 FEBRUARY 2019 The run-up to the election should be disentangling how SA’s political and economic woes reinforce each other. Political parties should be fiercely competing to best frame the issues and provide solutions. Instead, policy…Continue reading Ditch Redistribution 2.0 in favour of overarching poverty reduction policy

Politicsweb.co.za | 08 February 2019 Export led growth is required to lift population out of poverty Values are to politics as branding is to retailing. This helps explain the DA’s leadership debating BEE legislation this weekend. To achieve internal consensus, the party should focus on how promoting its values aligns with developing a plan to pummel…Continue reading Framing the DA’s BEE debate around solutions

Business Day 05 OCTOBER 2018 – 05:10 Politically opportunistic quotas impede prospects for broad prosperity. Fiscal repackaging along with jobs and investment summits are mostly political manoeuvres. SA’s binding constraints can be traced to policies that are incompatible with global opportunities. If internationally proven policies were adopted, stimulus would be unnecessary as investments and job…Continue reading Belief in redistribution has devastated growth

Politicsweb.co.za 18 February 2018 Shawn Hagedorn says President Ramaphosa’s task is to apply international best practice to our situation That President Ramaphosa committed in his State of the Nation Address to create an advisory council which “will draw on the expertise and capabilities that reside in labour, business, civil society and academia” makes clear that…Continue reading A council isn’t the answer to our economic challenges