THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE GOLD DISCOVERIES UPON SOUTH AFRICA: 1886-1910.

The article discusses the economic effects of the gold discoveries upon South Africa from 1886-1910. South Africa's gold discoveries present a peculiarly happy situation for a study of the changes accompanying these new conditions. Into this simple economy there suddenly burst a vast predominant force, creating a new industry overnight whose product, gold, should exercise its powerful effects upon the whole world. At first glance, it might be supposed that South Africa merely offers on a somewhat larger scale the conditions so ably discussed by a leading economist in his papers concerning the Australian discoveries. Unlike Australia which was soon provided with a domestic refinery and mint, the product of the South African mines, raw bullion, went out of the country in the same manner as any other merchandise export, without reference to exchange rates or specie points. It is, thus, the movement of coined gold and refined gold bars, not crude gold bullion, which must be watched as indicating shifts in South Africa's international trade position.