2024 will mark South Africa’s thirtieth year as a democracy. And, while progress has been made on the integration of society, the country seems to have fallen short of expectations on many other fronts. South Africa’s low levels of economic growth have remained a seemingly intractable problem and attempts at economic reform have done little to realise the country’s potential. What’s more, low growth is further exacerbating social problems like crime and corruption, creating a negative feedback loop that in turn undermines the country’s ability to make meaningful progress.

The challenges that contribute to such negative feedback loops include:

• Crime and corruption.
• Educational disparities.
• Crumbling infrastructure.
• High levels of inequality and unemployment.
• Mismanagement and misallocation of public resources.

However, South Africa’s multi-faceted economic challenge is further set against a global backdrop. It is not simply a matter of ‘any growth’ will do. Growth must be sustainable, and it has to work for society as a whole. It must, above all else, be inclusive, balanced and fair, and help the country make tangible progress when it comes to addressing inequality. How are we to address this challenge, especially when the shortcomings of redistributive policies, more than three decades on, are so painfully obvious?

With this in mind, PSG invites the country’s fellow “Big Picture Thinkers” to apply their minds to this problem by presenting a discussion document (see criteria below) on how to tackle the deeply intertwined challenges that seem to limit South Africa’s growth potential. Please support any recommendations you make with verifiable, quantitative justifications.

Present your arguments for why your approach will help to address the systemic challenge facing the country. You may want to touch on some (or all) of the issues listed above and the approaches below.

Approaches to be considered:

• Focus on medium-term wins, that will help the country achieve notable gains, helping to restore the public’s (and international community’s) faith in our ability to deliver on these challenges. You may want to touch on: economic policy, technological advancement or the role of public/private partnerships.
  
  
• Focus on long-term initiatives that are required to move the country forward. This can include the legislative agenda required to foster inclusive economic growth. Longer lead times apply here, but the pay offs, if built around a common purpose, will be extensive.

We encourage using an innovative model to tackle this topic. While optimal control theory stands out, different models can be applied and all model approaches will be considered. Qualifying papers should explain potential conflicting policy objectives, binding constraints to be considered and should include the required trade-offs to design optimal inclusive economic growth policies.