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Featured Policy Bulletin

Policy Bulletin 01: A fair price for economic modelling? Transparency Required

Chris Loewald, Pamela Mjandana, Konstantin Makrelov
The principle of transparency is the only way that policy makers can understand the limitations of a model and use its outputs effectively to inform policy. In absence of this transparency, there is no accountability and claims cannot be tested. The first ERSA policy bulletin discusses how to...
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Featured Policy Briefs

Assessing inflation targeting and its communication

Alberto Coco and Nicola Viegi
It is less onerous to achieve policy objectives when they are clear, credibly implemented and appropriately communicated, all of which reduces uncertainty
Nov 2019
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Relating public and private remuneration

Andreas Wörgötter and Sihle Nomdebevana
The study explores remuneration patterns in South Africa between 2000 and 2017, with a focus on the relationship between public- and private-sector earnings. Although remuneration is likely to increase over time in both sectors, this does not necessarily mean these increases are related to each other.
Nov 2019
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Latest Working Papers

Spillovers of the Conventional and Unconventional Monetary Policy from the US to South Africa

Alain Kabundi, Tumisang Loate and Nicola Viegi
This paper assesses the effect of US monetary policy on South Africa during the period 1990- 2018. We separately analyse and compare the effect of conventional monetary policy, before the Global Financial Crisis, and unconventional monetary policy, after the US monetary policy reached the zero-...
Apr 2020
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Redistribution, Inequality, and Efficiency with Credit Constraints

Yoseph Y. Getachew and Stephen J. Turnovsky
We develop a model that characterizes the joint determination of income distribution and macroeconomic aggregate dynamics. We identify multiple channels through which alternative public policies such as transfers, consumption and income taxes, and public investment will affect the inequality;...
Apr 2020
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The persistence of apartheid regional wage disparities in South Africa

Gibson Mudiriza and Lawrence Edwards
Despite the ending of apartheid, regional wage disparities remain prevalent in South Africa with the former homelands characterised by persistently low wages and incomes. In this paper, we use a new economic geography (NEG) model to estimate the extent to which the persistence in apartheid regional...
Apr 2020
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Fiscal Rules and the Compliance debate: Why do Countries adopt Rules and fail to comply?

Martin Wafula Nandelenga and Mark J. Ellyne
We study the compliance with fiscal rules via various national numeric rules. Based on 20 sub-Sahara African countries with 57 fiscal rules in force from 1997 to 2016, our analysis identifies determinants among the rule specific characteristics, as well as their macroeconomic and political...
Apr 2020
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The Global Transmission of U.S. Monetary Policy

Riccardo Degasperi, Seokki Simon Hong, Giovanni Ricco
This paper studies the transmission of US monetary shocks across the globe by employing a high-frequency identification of policy shocks and large VAR techniques, in conjunction with a large macro- financial dataset of global and national indicators covering both advanced and emerging economies...
Mar 2020
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Upcoming Online Seminars

Structural Constraints on the Economy, Growth and Political Economy

Peter Rosendorff (New York University), 'Financial Statecraft: Government Choice of Debt instruments'

When: Monday, 01 June
Time: 3:00 PM (CAT) on Zoom

Representivity, Diversity and Gender

Siobhan Hitchcock (Rhodes), "Gender Bias in the Field of Economics: An Analysis of South African Academia

When: Tuesday, 02 June
Time: 4:00 PM (CAT) on Zoom

Latest Podcasts

#7 Dr Neryvia Pillay Bell on the Fiscal response to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa

Thursday, April 23, 2020

In this podcast Dr Neryvia Pillay Bell, a Policy Associate at ERSA and Senior Economics Lecturer at the University of Cape Town, discusses how South Africa’s labour market and the government...
#6 Manoel Bittencourt on COVID-19 Economic Facts in South Africa

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

In this insightful video, Prof. Manoel Bittencourt, from Wits University’s Department of Economics and Finance, discusses the latest figures relating to the Coronavirus pandemic in South Africa....
#5 Alex van den Heever on South Africa’s public healthcare response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

In this podcast Prof. Alex van den Heever, the Chair of Social Security at the Wits School of Governance discusses how South Africa’s public healthcare system is handling the COVID-19 pandemic....
#4 Chris Loewald on the Monetary Policy response to the Coronavirus pandemic in South Africa

Monday, April 6, 2020

Amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic and an economic downgrade, we speak to Dr Chris Loewald shortly after the Monetary Policy Review. As the Head of the Research Department at the Reserve Bank, and a...
#3 Nicola Viegi on the South African economic response to the Coronavirus

Monday, April 6, 2020

Nicola Viegi, Deputy Director of ERSA, talks with Margaux G on the South African economic response to the Coronavirus. Health...
#2 Nicola Viegi on the potential impact of the Coronavirus on South Africa

Thursday, March 26, 2020

In this podcast, Prof. Nicola Viegi, the Deputy Director of ERSA and SARB Chair in Monetary Policy Studies at the University of Pretoria, discusses the unprecedented nature of the Coronavirus...
#1 Differential Impact of the Coronavirus as of end of March 2020

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Professor Johannes W. Fedderke, the Director of ERSA speaks to our host, Margaux G about the initial impact of the Coronavirus on the world. Exploring the differential impact across countries by...

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Featured Policy Bulletin

Policy Bulletin 01: A fair price for economic modelling? Transparency Required

Featured Policy Briefs

Assessing inflation targeting and its communication

Relating public and private remuneration

Latest Working Papers

Spillovers of the Conventional and Unconventional Monetary Policy from the US to South Africa

Redistribution, Inequality, and Efficiency with Credit Constraints

The persistence of apartheid regional wage disparities in South Africa

Fiscal Rules and the Compliance debate: Why do Countries adopt Rules and fail to comply?

The Global Transmission of U.S. Monetary Policy

Upcoming Online Seminars

Latest Podcasts

#7 Dr Neryvia Pillay Bell on the Fiscal response to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa

#6 Manoel Bittencourt on COVID-19 Economic Facts in South Africa

#5 Alex van den Heever on South Africa’s public healthcare response to the COVID-19 pandemic

#4 Chris Loewald on the Monetary Policy response to the Coronavirus pandemic in South Africa

#3 Nicola Viegi on the South African economic response to the Coronavirus

#2 Nicola Viegi on the potential impact of the Coronavirus on South Africa

#1 Differential Impact of the Coronavirus as of end of March 2020