A tale of paper and gold: the material history money in South Africa

Ellen Feingold, Johan Fourie and Leigh Gardner

Economic History Working Papers from London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History

Abstract: This paper uses the South African objects in the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian to tell a new material history of money in South Africa. In other parts of the continent, research about the currencies in use and how these changed over time have offered a new perspective on the impact of colonialism, commercialisation, and the rise of state capacity. South Africa, and southern Africa more generally, has remained on the periphery of these debates. This paper begins to fill this gap. It shows that even in Africa’s most financially developed region, the process of establishing a stable national currency was long and halting, reflecting struggles over South Africa’s relationship with the global economy and the rise and fall of apartheid.

Keywords: South Africa; currency; colonialism; mineral; REF Impact Fund (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N17 N47 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2021-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-mon and nep-pay
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/108574/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: A tale of paper and gold: the material history of money in South Africa (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:wpaper:108574

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