Incomes in South Africa after the Fall of Apartheid
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This paper examines changes in individual real incomes in South Africa between 1995 and 2000. We document substantial declines—on the order of 40%—in real incomes for both men and women. The brunt of the income decline appears to have been shouldered by the young and the non-White. We extend nonparametric methodologies to examine the role of changes in endowments, returns to these endowments and selection into and out of positive incomes as possible explanations for this income change. We argue that changes in respondent attributes are insufficient to explain this decline. For most groups, a (conservative) correction for selection into income recipiency explains some, but not all, of the income decline. For other groups, selection is a potential explanation for the income decline. Perhaps the most persuasive explanation of the evidence is substantial economic restructuring of the South African economy in which wages are not bid up to keep pace with price changes due to a differentially slack labor market.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Research Foundation
- Democracy, Autocracy and Bureaucracy
- Incomes in South Africa after the Fall of Apartheid
- Poverty and Disequalization
- Dysfunctional Finance: Positive Shocks and Negative Outcomes
- Policy Analysis
- Impact of Political Reservations in West Bengal Local Governments on Anti-Poverty Targeting
- Rethinking Global Economic and Social Governance
- Public Finance and Economic Development: Reflections based on Experience in China
- International Rules for Trade in Natural Resources
- Macro Crises and Targeting Transfers to the Poor
- Symposium
- Symposium: The Return of Counter-cyclical Policy - Editorial Preface
- Asia: Counter-Cyclical Policies: Indian Experience and Some General Observations
- Asia: China's Policy Responses to the Global Financial Crisis
- Latin America: Counter-Cyclical Policy in Brazil: 2008-09
- Latin America: The Structural Fiscal Balance Policy in Chile: A Move Toward Counter-Cyclical Macroeconomics
- Latin America: Comments on Financial Regulation and International Capital Flows in Latin America
- Africa: Africa's Counter-Cyclical Policy Responses to the Crisis
- Europe: How Deep Is a Crisis? Policy Responses and Structural Factors Behind Diverging Performances
- Europe: Counter-Cyclical Policies in Light of the Global Financial Crisis: The Case of Turkey
