Prof Kuben Naidoo: Inequality is bad for growth

Kuben Naidoo, former head of the Secretariat of the National Planning Commission in the President's Office and honorary professor in Economics at Stellenbosch University recently delivered a lecture in Stellenbosch to students, university staff and visitors on the topic of inequality and growth. He reviewed recent theoretical and empirical research showing various reasons why inequality, particularly very high inequality such as found in South Africa, is likely having a strong limiting impact on economic growth and carries the potential for further destabilization. He distinguished between income and asset inequality and identified human capital as a particularly important mechanism that perpetuates inequality over time. Especially with regards to the latter, a serious policy challenge exists as the education system has failed in many areas despite a substantial increase in resources being allocated to it.