Incomes in South Africa Since the Fall of Apartheid / Murray Leibbrandt, James Levinsohn, Justin McCrary.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Leibbrandt, Murray.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Levinsohn, James.

McCrary, Justin.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w11384.

NBER working paper series no. w11384

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2005.

Summary:

This paper examines changes in individual real incomes in South Africa between 1995 and 2000. We document substantial declines--on the order of 40%--in real incomes for both men and women. The brunt of the income decline appears to have been shouldered by the young and the non-white. We argue that changes in respondent attributes are insufficient to explain this decline. For most groups, a (conservative) correction for selection into income recipiency explains some, but not all, of the income decline. For other groups, selection is a potential explanation for the income decline. Perhaps the most persuasive explanation of the evidence is substantial economic restructuring of the South African economy in which wages are not bid up to keep pace with price changes due to a differentially slack labor market.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2005.