May 2001
South Africa: a rising star
South Africa is a contradictory country. Its economy is the
size of Poland's or Thailand's. It has income disparities similar
to Brazil's. In population and wage rates, it's Argentina. But it
spends three times more of GDP on public education than China and
twice as much as the average of all emerging markets.
Infrastructure is first world. Medical care is still innovative
and superb, although the best care is in the private sector.
Internet cafés abound. The water from the taps is pure and tastes
better than the bottled imports.
Corporate South Africa hums like a smooth turbine and operates to
get results for shareholders, not the sons and daughters of cronies
and tycoons. Labour productivity gains are double those of the US
and unit labour costs are steady. The economy is three to four
times more internationalized than Argentina's or Brazil's despite
embargoes up to 1994.
There's low...
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