This paper explores the institutional factors behind the crisis of capital accumulation in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. Estimations show that political instability accounted for most of the fall in the rate of accumulation, independent of distributive outcomes, such as the level of profitability. Contrary to prior criticisms, these results provide empirical support for a social structure of accumulation (SSA) interpretation of the performance of the South African economy.
Aglietta, M. (1979). A theory of capitalist regulation (D. Fernbach, Trans.). London: NLB.
2.
Bowles, S., Gordon, D., & Weisskopf, T. (1989). Business ascendancy and economic impasse: A structural retrospective on conservative economics 1979-87. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 3(1), 107-134.
3.
Chirinko, R. (1993, December). Business fixed investment spending: Modeling strategies, empirical results, and policy implications. Journal of Economic Literature, 31, 1875-1911.
4.
Fazzari, S., & Mott, T. (1986). The investment theories of Kalecki and Keynes: A study of firm data 1970-82. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 9, 171-187.
5.
Fedderke, J. W., de Kalt, R. H. J., & Luiz, J. M. (1999). Indicators of political liberty, property rights, and political instability, 1935-97. Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA) (Working Paper 4). Johannesburg: University of the Witswatersrand.
6.
Gelb, S. (1991). South Africa's economic crisis: An overview. In S. Gelb (Ed.), South Africa's economic crisis (pp. 1-32). Cape Town: David Philip.
7.
Glyn, A. (1997). Does aggregate profitability really matter?Cambridge Journal of Economics, 21, 591-619.
8.
Gordon, D., Edwards, R., & Reich, M. (1982). Segmented work, divided workers: The historical transformation of labor in the United States. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
9.
Heintz, J. (2001). Political conflict, investment, and labor demand in South Africa. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
10.
Hofmeyr (1994). An analysis of African wage movements in South Africa (Research Monograph No. 9). Durban: Economic Research Unit. University of Natal.
11.
Kalecki, M. (1971). Selected essays on the dynamics of the capitalist economy 1933-70. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
12.
Kotz, D. M. (1990). A comparative analysis of the theory of regulation and the social structure of accumulation theory. Science and Society, 54(1), 5-28.
13.
Lipton, M. (1985). Capitalism and apartheid. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Allanheld.
14.
Morris, M., & Padayachee, V. (1988). State reform policy in South Africa. Transformation, 7, 1-26.
15.
Nattrass, N. (1992). Profitability: The soft underbelly of South African regulation/SSA analysis. Review of Radical Political Economics, 24(1), 31-51.
16.
Posel, D. (1997). The making of apartheid 1948461. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
17.
Schock, K. (1996). A conjunctural model of political conflict. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 40(1), 98-133.
18.
Wintrobe, R. (1998). The political economy of dictatorship. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
19.
Wood, E. (2000). Forging democracy from below. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
