able to protect their property rights. Infrastructure is reliable. Tax rates are relatively low. The burden of regulation is comparable to other middle-income countrries. Few firms pay bribes. And most firms have adequate access to credit. In many dimensions, South Africa has a good investment climate.Consistent with this, large South African firms are very productive. Labor productivity is far higher than in the most productive low-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and compares favorably with other middle-income countries such as Brazil, Lithuania, Malaysia, and Poland. And although labor productivity in South Africa is slightly lower than in the most productive cities in China, it is over three times higher than in China as a whole.So, why hasn't South Africa been growing faster? As this title explores, while the investment climate is generally favorable, some problems remain. Firms appear to be particularly concerned about four areas: difficulty hiring skilled and educated workers, rigid labor regulations, exchange rate instability, and crime. Using rigorous statistical information on these and related topics, the book aims to assist policy makers and private sector stakeholders in developing reforms that will improve firm performance and growth.  (less)

a business, and looks at daily life. There are special sections on education, security and retire retirement too, in what is a compelling overview of life as it really is in this rapidly changing society.  (less)

Property Law in Italy.<p>Substantive Law on Industrial Property of Panama.<p>New Spanish Criminal Code on Intellectual Property Offences.<p>Current Trends in Intellectual Property Law in South Africa.<p>Revised Text of the Spanish Intellectual Property Law.<p>Cross-border Intellectual Property Relief in the Netherlands.<p>Intellectual Property and United States Antitrust Laws.<p>Index.  (less)

owned shopping mall, and an increasing range of interests are being described as ‘property’, an examination of the powers which attach to ownership becomes all the more pressing. The contributors consider whether property is a human right, its role in making responsible citizens, its relationship to freedom of speech and other values, the proper scope of constitutional protections of private property, impediments to the redistribution of property, and attempts to redress historical wrongs by property settlements to indigenous people. Taking a richly comparative perspective, examples have been drawn from jurisdictions as diverse as the United Kingdom, South Africa, Germany, the United States, and New Zealand. Contributors: Janet McLean (ed), Kevin Gray, Susan Francis Gray, Geoffrey Samuel, J W Harris, Gregory Alexander, Andre van der Walt, Tom Allen, Jeremy Waldron, Maurice Goldsmith, Alex Frame, John Dawson, Michael Robertson.  (less)

first part focuses on property rights, giving a short narrative of some of the key land tenure and land policy issues. Though these issues remain politically sensitive, a solid consensus is emerging on how to deal with them—but only once the confusion is cleared up surrounding private common property and formal and informal rights. The second part addresses redistributive land reform—the redistribution of property rights in land from large to small farmers. A heightened sense of urgency surrounds the need to address land redistribution, especially in the former settler colonies in southern Africa, but controversy exists regarding the appropriate implementation mechanisms. The study highlights the case of South Africa, because success there would have tremendous regional and international implications for land redistribution. A policy framework for redistributive land reform is outlined, within which the competing paradigms compete where it actually matters—on the ground.  (less)