Abstract
AbstractA strong underlying structure in the economic, demographic, and entrepreneurial domains of local authorities (municipalities) in the Free State, South Africa was detected through cluster and other analyses. The structure is indicative of a system in which economic value addition, population size, employment creation, and entrepreneurial domains are dynamically linked. The agriculture, mining, and fuel and chemicals sectors dominate the economic value addition in some municipalities, whereas others are without a single dominating economic sector (i.e. they have well-balanced economies). The agriculture and households sectors are significant sources of employment in all municipalities. Cluster sequence analyses of the municipalities revealed statistically significant recurring patterns of value addition, employment, and entrepreneurship, further strengthening the detection of orderliness, which can promote mutual learning. The Metsimaholo municipality with a significant manufacturing base is an atyp...
Highlights
Economic geography has changed much in the past two and a half decades
South Africans need to develop a deep understanding of the economic geography of the country and its regions in order to address these problems
Proportionality as a characteristic of municipalities Proportionalities or regularities in the form of statistically significant correlations have been recorded for selections of South African towns between: (i) gross value added (GVA), (ii) population numbers, (iii) employment numbers, and (iv) enterprise numbers (Toerien & Seaman, 2010, 2011, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2012d, 2014)
Summary
Economic geographers sought new insights from various forms of heterodox economics and from social sciences, and on the other hand, economists “have discovered geography, and argued for the importance of a geographical perspective for understanding the dynamics and competitiveness of the economy” (Boschma & Martin, 2010). Why is this important in a developing country such as South Africa?. Unemployment, and inequality are continually identified as the most serious problems of South Africa.
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