City of Joburg aims to boost its coffers with an innovative policy
The proposed contingency reserve fund will tackle infrastructure backlogs and shore up finances
Throughout history, periods of economic slowdown have acted as a launch pad for leadership and innovation. This is evident in a number of events, including the contraction of the global economy around the First World War. The subsequent terms of the Treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany compelled a young Cambridge economist, John Maynard Keynes, to champion a different economic reality, which proposed a demand-side anti-austerity worldview. Similarly, the dawn of the Depression in 1929 resulted in US president Herbert Hoover choosing an unfamiliar economic revival measure. After the Second World War, the Marshall Plan rescued Europe from hard economic times. The above suggests that structural constraints are defeated through innovation. In providing solutions to recent economic challenges, for four years, the US Federal Reserve spent $75bn in monthly asset purchases. Similarly, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi used policy statements and the monthly outlay of assets int...
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