FERIAL HAFFAJEE: The complications of economic concentration are growing
The world's leading central bankers and economists meet each year in the US resort of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to ponder the difficult issues facing monetary policymakers. This year's meeting was the first public outing for new US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. It was his speech that got much of the airtime - and briefly prompted a rally of sorts in the rand, which lifted along with other emerging-market currencies after Powell's comments affirming the Fed's commitment to gradual interest rate hikes weakened the dollar.There was less coverage of other, more academic discussions, but one area of focus which is of some interest for SA was the issue of economic concentration and what it might mean for monetary policy.Many of SA's economic sectors are highly concentrated in the sense that they are dominated by just a few players. Economists have cited the high degree of concentration as a factor in SA's low growth and employment rates, pointing to the relative dearth of the small...
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