The study of economics should lead a student to recognise the causes of social injustice and economic failure within a particular society.
South Africa is an interesting case study of a society that has gone through a dramatic social transformation and has not managed during that transition to eliminate the causes of social injustice and has had a mediocre economic performance since 1994.
Why? Because political emancipation was not followed by economic emancipation. The new elite has stepped neatly into the shoes of the old power elite and has not thrown off the shackles of state control and regulatory requirements.
The whole world has moved on since the collapse of Communism and the Berlin wall - in South Africa the unions have strengthened its hold over the economy and has effectively made employment of the masses impossible by prohibiting the entry of cheap young labor. That is why our youth has not been able to get a foothold in the economy. They are been marginalised by vested interest and relegated to part-time piece jobs.
We are ignoring this ticking time bomb at our own peril.
Our economy is growing at a too slow pace to absorb the influx of new people.
But yes, our economy has adapted and yes more and more people are finding themselves dependent on their own resources to eke out a living in the informal sector. Not that the state and local governments are making it easier with all the regulations impeding creative experimentation...
We now have a state so bent on controlling every aspect of our lives and is building a society of dependents through social and other grants and subsidies for housing, schooling, basic services, and health - a policy that is bound to stifle self reliance and entrepreneurship. That on the back of BEE, cronyism and tenderpreneurs. This is becoming a state that is more interested in fixing disparity through redistribution rather than on increasing the economic cake through production and trade.
In stead of having a legal system that opens up the economy to the people and ensure free competition between players we have a licencing and regulatory system that favour those with political connections and have through privilege attained a certain position (often through the political or labour movement route).