South Africa in the Installation Phase of a New Techno-economic Paradigm

Abstract

Abstract South Africa’s situation of financialization, low growth, unemployment, and inequality is linked here to the ‘installation phase’ of a new technology as described by Carlotta Perez. South Africa’s informational economy is examined, and the role of the financial sector is summarized. The article then considers the strengths and weaknesses of the manufacturing and service sectors, and the embeddedness in them of digital technologies. The article concludes by supporting manufacturing as the best route to a new productive economic core while other sites of digital industry take deeper root. The need to shape finance to more national ends is also affirmed.