Dear South African Government I have come to a few realisations. All of which are admittedly obvious, but still need to be mentioned. I think a point-form approach will put things across more succinctly. 1. We as the citizens of this country pay your salary. Yet the rules for the way we earn our money […]
tax
How to save capitalism from the capitalists
It is always a bit surprising to hear an economist described as a “rock star” in the media, but Thomas Piketty has been collecting this accolade in spades since the publication of his runaway bestseller, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. It surely says something interesting about our times that this 700-page tome packed with dense […]
Why exchange controls aren’t going anywhere
So there is the on-going saga that is exchange controls. Every year there is also the usual pontificating, at national budget time, on the future of exchange controls. The financial pundits will all agree that exchange controls need to go and that maybe this is finally the year that the minister of finance will pluck […]
Predistribution
I recently finished reading The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. I last read the book shortly after it was first released in 2009. The book made quite a splash at the time in the UK, but I don’t recall a similar fuss being made about the book in South Africa. But I […]