Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Instruments of stabilization policy and their application in South Africa between 1960 and 1972

The objectives of stabilization policy are widely accepted: firstly to maintain a high rate of utilization of resources, secondly to preserve a reasonably stable price level, or, more realistically nowadays, to maintain a low rate of inflation, and finally to accomplish the first two goals with the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Colburn, Alan Richard Harold
Other Authors: Kantor, Brian
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: School of Economics 2024
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613152718356480
access_status_str Open Access
author Colburn, Alan Richard Harold
author2 Kantor, Brian
author_browse Colburn, Alan Richard Harold
Kantor, Brian
author_facet Kantor, Brian
Colburn, Alan Richard Harold
author_sort Colburn, Alan Richard Harold
collection Thesis
description The objectives of stabilization policy are widely accepted: firstly to maintain a high rate of utilization of resources, secondly to preserve a reasonably stable price level, or, more realistically nowadays, to maintain a low rate of inflation, and finally to accomplish the first two goals with the maintenance of a viable balance of payments position. The indicators of success of stabilization policy are then, obviously, the unemployment rate and the level of unutilised capacity, the consumer and wholesale indices, and the level of gold and foreign exchange reserves. A topic of much concern is the extent to which the fluctuations in these three series can be attributed to measures implemented by the authorities responsible for stabilization policy. The subject matter of this dissertation stems from this concern. This dissertation, however, does not attempt to derive some overall quantitative impact of stabilization policies, but rather sets out to highlight problems with the policy instruments in particular with respect to their lag structures, uncertainty as to their impacts and the duration of the impact and their side-effects. From this and recent theoretical developments, and having noted the manner in which stabilization policies were pursued in South Africa, proposals regarding the improved conduct of stabilization policies are tentatively put forward in the concluding chapter. Control of the money supply has fairly recently been re-elevated to a position of importance in the view of many economists f or its potential role as an anti-inflationary me8sure. As will be indicated, the South African authorities have tended to focus attention on the level of interest rates as an indicator of monetary policy rather than on the money supply. To explain the academic backing to this priority a discussion of the recent 'money matters' debate is pursued in Chapter 11.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40451
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:31:35.974Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher School of Economics
publisherStr School of Economics
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40451 Instruments of stabilization policy and their application in South Africa between 1960 and 1972 Colburn, Alan Richard Harold Kantor, Brian Economics The objectives of stabilization policy are widely accepted: firstly to maintain a high rate of utilization of resources, secondly to preserve a reasonably stable price level, or, more realistically nowadays, to maintain a low rate of inflation, and finally to accomplish the first two goals with the maintenance of a viable balance of payments position. The indicators of success of stabilization policy are then, obviously, the unemployment rate and the level of unutilised capacity, the consumer and wholesale indices, and the level of gold and foreign exchange reserves. A topic of much concern is the extent to which the fluctuations in these three series can be attributed to measures implemented by the authorities responsible for stabilization policy. The subject matter of this dissertation stems from this concern. This dissertation, however, does not attempt to derive some overall quantitative impact of stabilization policies, but rather sets out to highlight problems with the policy instruments in particular with respect to their lag structures, uncertainty as to their impacts and the duration of the impact and their side-effects. From this and recent theoretical developments, and having noted the manner in which stabilization policies were pursued in South Africa, proposals regarding the improved conduct of stabilization policies are tentatively put forward in the concluding chapter. Control of the money supply has fairly recently been re-elevated to a position of importance in the view of many economists f or its potential role as an anti-inflationary me8sure. As will be indicated, the South African authorities have tended to focus attention on the level of interest rates as an indicator of monetary policy rather than on the money supply. To explain the academic backing to this priority a discussion of the recent 'money matters' debate is pursued in Chapter 11. 2024-07-23T12:52:29Z 2024-07-23T12:52:29Z 1974 2024-07-23T07:42:51Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40451 eng application/pdf School of Economics Faculty of Commerce
spellingShingle Economics
Colburn, Alan Richard Harold
Instruments of stabilization policy and their application in South Africa between 1960 and 1972
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Instruments of stabilization policy and their application in South Africa between 1960 and 1972
title_full Instruments of stabilization policy and their application in South Africa between 1960 and 1972
title_fullStr Instruments of stabilization policy and their application in South Africa between 1960 and 1972
title_full_unstemmed Instruments of stabilization policy and their application in South Africa between 1960 and 1972
title_short Instruments of stabilization policy and their application in South Africa between 1960 and 1972
title_sort instruments of stabilization policy and their application in south africa between 1960 and 1972
topic Economics
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40451
work_keys_str_mv AT colburnalanrichardharold instrumentsofstabilizationpolicyandtheirapplicationinsouthafricabetween1960and1972