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This extended Review Article assesses the changing role of the corporation in history, using the 2018 book by Oxford scholar Colin Mayer entitled ‘Prosperity’ as a basis for the analysis. This is a traditional review article centred around the Mayer book, but as we end we take our argument, albeit tentatively, to other related issues, beyond the Mayer argument. The corporation may be viewed in a positive sense as a creator of wealth and ‘prosperity’ for society in general, or as in a negative sense as generating ‘prosperity’ only for the few, shareholders and executives at the expense of the many, including workers, customers and future generations. Colin Mayer’s book visits both sides of this ‘prosperity’ equation and the title of the book derives from this recognition. Our argument is that even within the limits of contemporary neo-liberal global capitalism, corporations could be a force for more sustainable and balanced economic growth, as well as for social and environmental good. This requires a clarification of its ‘purpose’ as well as changes in the composition of its decision-making structures and revised mandates of its boards and sub-committees such as its remuneration committees that often have been given the power alone to determine executive pay. But we argue (albeit only suggestively) in the final section that the nature and variety of capitalism itself may have to be addressed alongside firm level changes for the long-term good and sustainability of a more equal society. Mayer shows that since its birth in Roman times, as an agency for promoting public works and the public good, the corporation has taken on many different roles, with varying purpose. Only in the last 50 years has the Milton Friedman doctrine, that companies should have only one role, of maximizing shareholder wealth, become the dominant explanation for the purpose of the corporation. We are not confident that corporations will voluntarily move in these progressive directions, especially given the continuing stranglehold of neo-liberal globalization. A push for broader social and economic change from below through struggle may be essential. JEL Codes: B1, N1, M14

This article re-examines existing interpretations of the ANC's economic and social policy choices during the negotiations that led to South Africa's democracy. The divergence but also convergence c...

Based on Bill Freund’s latest book, this review essay critically reviews the author’s discussion of: the institutional and network fibres underlying the mid-20th-century South African developmental model; how and why it developed; how and why it transformed through the course of that century; and how it was dismantled by the end of that century. The essay also tries to assess the significance of that model for South African development in the post-1994 democratic era, as well as the economic and public policy choices exercised by the African National Congress (ANC)-led government under conditions of fiscal constraint.

This chapter assesses the role of politics from late apartheid South Africa to the ratification of the Constitution of democratic South Africa in 1996 as the country moved in step with global developments to secure the autonomy and independence of the South African Reserve Bank (henceforth SARB or SA Reserve Bank). While the nature of the negotiations over a political settlement appeared well organised with all major parties being well prepared, this was not the case in respect of negotiations over economic issues, which were marginalised and occurred in the periphery of formal talks. The rather messy discussions between the major political protagonists in respect of the economics of the transition is most clearly evident in the debate about central bank independence, which saw the market-oriented view of the late apartheid government prevail over the initial dirigiste policy stance of the African National Congress (ANC) which favoured greater autonomy for the central bank but not full constitutional independence. As negotiations progressed the two policy positions converged and central bank independence with a price stability mandate was enshrined in the interim and final constitution. However, some 25 years later certain political manoeuvres within the ruling party again potentially threaten the independence of the SARB. This research paper reports, among other issues, on an interview on this matter with former President FW de Klerk and with former central bank Governor Dr Chris Stals on the subject of how the South African government moved towards granting the Bank its independence during the transition to democracy in South Africa. After 25 years, central bank independence might have come full circle, with the current ANC government’s stated objective as agreed at its National Conference in December 2018 to ‘nationalise’ the SA Reserve Bank. While it is not clear what the real motives for this change may be (as the debate is clouded in political double speak), there is a danger, likely to be seized up by credit rating agencies and potential foreign investors that this is possibly the first step in taking the South African Reserve Bank under executive control again, as was the case in the 1980s.

Between the late 1940s and the early 1990s, Vella Pillay made a major contribution to South Africa’s liberation struggle. This article focuses on three aspects of his contribution: as a revolutiona...

Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-first Century 1 (hereafter C21) has spawned a host of books, articles and reviews that take up and develop the study of inequality in contemporary Western soc...

This paper reviews Christel Lane's Industry and Society in Europe, a comparative study of industrial change in Britain, Germany and France. Three areas covered by the book are discussed in a South African context: flexible specialisation theory; industrial relations; and the relationship between finance and industry. The paper assesses the relevance, and limitations, of Lane's primarily institutional approach, and argues that economic and industrial policy in South Africa needs to be grounded in a continued recognition of the importance of the country's unique national institutions and development challenges.

This article examines various aspects of South Africa's recent relations with the International Monetary Fund in the context of developments such as the December 1993 IMF Compensatory and Contingency Financing Facility (CCFF), the finalisation of the ANC's Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) in March 1994, and the election of South Africa's first democratic government in April 1994.