CHAPTER VI THE MONEY ECONOMY: A SECTOR APPROACH THE results of the preceding survey of the aggregative variables in Central Africa's money economy provide an unmistakable demonstration of the rapid pace of its ex- pansion. But an adequate understanding of the forces at work within the money economy cannot be obtained from analysis of these macro-economic categories alone. A micro-economic inspection of individual components of the money economy can offer further insights into the problems and prospects of development. For this purpose, the money economy may be subdivided into sectors. Each has its own peculiar properties. Nor are the various sectors uniform in their analytical signific- ance. Developments in some sectors have initiated and shaped the overall pattern of expansion, while in others the level of activity has been more a by-product of the general process of expansion itself. For the sake of convenience, four components of the money economy may be isolated for separate discussion: mining, agriculture, manufacturing, and the public sector. Lines of demarcation between these sectors cannot always be unambigu- ously drawn. This problem arises particularly with the public sector. In one fashion or another, public expenditures have influenced the performance of the mining, agricultural, and manufacturing industries. But public expenditure on social overhead capital -- an important aspect of the development problem in itself -- has made a major contribution to the growth of the money economy. Separate treatment of this type of activity will, therefore, be undertaken. The Mining Industries Mining has always been the mainstay of the money economy in the Rhodesias. Indeed the geological riches of the area provided the primary rationale for European enterprise and -117- |