CHAPTER VII INCOME DISTRIBUTION AND THE EXPANSION OF THE MONEY ECONOMY IN the preceding discussions of the money economy, many aspects of income distribution have been touched upon. This subject now deserves separate attention. Like most of the important variables with which economists are concerned, income distribution can be viewed from a variety of perspec- tives. Two issues are of particular interest in the dualistic situation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. One concerns the effects of the distribution of income on the process of expansion in the money economy. In this connexion, it is relevant to examine the manner in which the allocation of money income affects saving and investment, on the one hand, and aggregate demand for output on the other. In addition, the effects of expansion in the money economy on the distribution of incomes must also be examined. This point is pertinent to judgements on whether or not expansion in the money economy produces im- provement in real income for the indigenous population. These two problems are analytically distinct. In empirical measure- ments, however, they can seldom be effectively isolated from one another. Significant Features of the Distributive Pattern in Central Africa To students of industrialized economies, several features of the post-war distribution of money income in Central Africa are noteworthy. None of them is surprising in light of what has already been said about the major properties of the money economy. In contrast with more advanced economic systems, the share of net geographical income paid out as wages and salaries is surprisingly low. By the same token, the share accruing in forms of corporate profits claims an unusually high proportion of the total. A brief comparison of results recorded in Central Africa with those for the American economy in the same period is illumin- -158- |