Welcome to ERSA

Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA) is a research programme which is being funded by the National Treasury of South Africa.

Latest Publications

A categorisation and evaluation of rhino management policies by Douglas J. Crookes and James N. Blignaut
Rhino populations are at a critical level and new approaches are needed to ensure their survival. This study conducts a review and categorisation of policies for the management of rhinos.
Institutionalisation of Derivatives Trading and Economic Growth: Evidence from South Africa by Audrey Nguema Bekale, Erika Botha and Jacobus Vermeulen
The purpose of this paper is to foresee the likely developmental impact of the proposed institutionalisation of derivatives trading in sub-Saharan Africa(n) (SSA) countries.
The Migrant Network Effect: An empirical analysis of rural-to-urban migration in South Africa by Caroline Stapleton
Recent empirical migration literature in South Africa suggests that access to physical and human capital, in the way of finance and education respectively, are key factors in increasing one’s probability of migrating.
Measuring Core Inflation in South Africa by Stan du Plessis, Gideon du Rand & Kevin Kotzé
Measures of core inflation convey critical information about an economy. They have a direct effect on the policy-making process, particularly in inflation-targeting countries, and are utilized in forecasting and modelling exercises.
Determining Visitor Preferences for Rhinoceros Conservation Management at Private, Ecotourism Game Reserves in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa: A Choice Modeling Experiment by Deborah E Lee and Mario Du Preez
South Africa harbours 95 percent of the world’s threatened white rhinoceros (18 000) population and 40 percent of the critically endangered black rhinoceros (1 950) population.

Workshops

CALL FOR PAPERS: 3rd International Workshop on the Economics of Competition and Industrial Organization
Monday, March 9, 2015 to Tuesday, March 10, 2015
The aim of the workshop is to consider theoretical and empirical advances in the economics of competition. Previous workshops included a mix of applied microeconomics and industrial organization research, but theoretical work is also welcome.
Workshop location: Stellenbosch
An Introduction to Public Goods Games and Experiments
Monday, March 16, 2015 to Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Over the last few decades, Experimental Economics and Economics Experiments have taken centre stage in research on human behaviour. The study of public goods represents an important field of study within Experimental Economics.
Workshop location: East London
An ERSA Research Workshop: The fiscal history of sub-Saharan Africa
Monday, May 25, 2015 to Tuesday, May 26, 2015
The public finances of African governments in the colonial and post-independence periods have been the subject of substantial new research in recent years.
Workshop location: Stellenbosch, Cape Town
An ERSA Research Workshop: Longitudinal Data in African History
Wednesday, May 27, 2015 to Friday, May 29, 2015
The study of African economic history has reached a tipping point.
Workshop location: Stellenbosch, Cape Town

Latest Journal Publications

The spatial persistence of population and wealth during apartheid: comparing the 1911 and 2011 censuses by Waldo Krugell
Economic History of Developing Regions (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20780389.2014.957907)
This article examines the spatial distribution of people and wealth in South Africa over the period 1911 to 2011. Economic development is typically characterised by agglomeration, but Apartheid policies tried to separate people and disperse economic activity.
A Disaggregated Analysis of Product Price Integration in the Southern African Development Community by Neil Balchin, Lawrence Edwards and Asha Sundaram
Journal of African Economies (http://jae.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/02/17/jae.ejv004.full?keytype=r...)
Empirical evidence on the extent to which product markets are integrated within Africa remains noticeably limited.
A Portrait of Informal Sector Credit and Interest Rates in Malawi: Interpolated Monthly Time Series by Harold Ngalawa
The African Finance Journal (http://www.africagrowth.com/Abstract16_2_4.htm)
Although informal finance forms a large part of their financial sector, nearly all low income countries exclude informal transactions in official monetary data.
Dependence on Environmental Resources and Implications for Household Welfare: Evidence from the Kalahari Drylands, South Africa by Gladman Thondhlana and Edwin Muchapondwa
Ecological Economics (http://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0921800914003139)
This paper examines dependence on environmental resources and impacts on household welfare among the indigenous San and Mier rural communities neighbouring Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in the arid Kalahari region, South Africa.
Literacy at South African Mission Stations by Johan Fourie, Robert Ross and Russel Viljoen
Journal of Southern African Studies (http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjss20)
Accurate measures of education quality — primarily, years of schooling or literacy rates — are widely used to ascertain the contribution of human capital formation on long-run economic growth and development.