Perhaps coincidentally, in a week in which SA was experiencing a devastating wave of violence and looting, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a blog on its latest research which examines the macroeconomic impact of social unrest.

Without getting too econometric about it, the bottom line is that episodes of unrest negatively impact economic activity not just immediately but more persistently - and an unrest "event" is associated with a one percentage point reduction in GDP six decades after the event...

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