014_eye_200304
Joining ERSA’s host in this podcast is Isaah Mhlanga, a Chief Economist at Alexander Forbes. Together they discuss expectations for the upcoming 2021 Budget...
Home
Featured Policy Bulletin
Policy Bulletin 04: Electricity reforms: Experience and approach
Read moreSouth Africa has been experiencing electricity shortages since 2008. Load shedding is taking place even at the moment, despite a large contraction in economic activity due to the Covid-19 crisis. It is time to reform the electricity market and breakdown Eskom’s vertically integrated monopoly. An...
Policy Bulletin 03: Macroeconomic policy options for a savings constrained economy: the case of South Africa
Read moreEconomic growth requires delivering a credible fiscal consolidation plan that shifts spending towards investment in infrastructure, human capital accumulation and a environmentally sustainable economy. Fiscal policy has to move first, reducing risk...
Policy Bulletin 02: Reflections on Aspects of Public Finance and Fiscal Policy in South Africa
Read moreAfter the COVID-19 crisis is over, South Africa will face a fiscal mountain that looks insurmountable. Many of the problems experienced in the public finances originated outside of the fiscus and have to be addressed at source, neither fiscal discretion, nor fiscal rules or any...
Policy Bulletin 01: A fair price for economic modelling? Transparency Required
Read moreThe 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...
Featured Policy Briefs
Assessing inflation targeting and its communication
It is less onerous to achieve policy objectives when they are clear, credibly implemented and appropriately communicated, all of which reduces uncertaintyRead moreNov 2019Relating public and private remuneration
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.Read moreNov 2019
Latest Working Papers
Health Inequality and the 1918 Influenza in South Africa
The 1918 influenza – the Spanish flu – killed an estimated 6% of South Africans. Not all were equally affected. Mortality rates were particularly high in districts with a large share of black and coloured residents. To investigate why this happened, we transcribed 39,482 death certificates from the...Read moreFeb 2021Taxpayer responsiveness to taxation: Evidence from bunching at kink points of the South African income tax schedule
I apply the bunching methodology to South African administrative tax data over the period from 2011 to 2017 to investigate the responsiveness of individual taxpayers to changes in marginal personal income tax rates. I find significant evidence of bunching among the self-employed but no evidence of...Read moreFeb 2021The Effect of Colonial and Pre-Colonial Institutions on Contemporary Education in Africa
This paper argues that contrary to previous findings, present-day education outcomes in Africa cannot be independently attributed to colonial or pre-colonial ethnic institutions. We propose that it is instead the complementarity or contention between colonial and precolonial institutions that result...Read moreJan 2021The transmission of monetary policy via the banks’ balance sheet - does bank size matter?
We study the credit channel of monetary policy in South Africa between 2002 and 2019 using banks’ balance sheets. We show that there is a significant heterogeneity within the banking sector in both the loan and deposit sides of the banks’ balance sheets. In response to a contractionary monetary...Read moreJan 2021Phases of Higher Education, Tuition Grants, and Equity-Efficency Tradeoff
We study how taxes and alternative higher education subsidies affect equity-efficiency trade-off for countries at different phases of higher education development. We find a scholarship program is the most efficient higher-education-subsidy program at all stages of higher education development due...Read moreJan 2021
Upcoming Events
Structural Constraints on the Economy, Growth and Political Economy
Topic: Elias Papaioannou (London Business School), 'Religion and Educational Mobility in Africa'
When: 16 March
Latest Conversations
-
Thu, 18 February 2021
-
Fri, 04 December 2020
In this podcast, ERSA’s host speaks to Dr Biniam Bedasso about Public Finance Management, which plays a significant role in reducing inequality in an economy. You may be familiar with the Public...
-
Mon, 30 November 2020
After its sovereign debt crisis in 2011, Italy experienced its worst recession since World War II. With the labour market heavily dependent on the manufacturing sector and facing decreasing...
-
Wed, 11 November 2020
During the past week the buzz word has been ‘voting’, given the nail-biting US elections that have recently taken place. In this podcast, ERSA’s host speaks to Dr Biniam Bedasso who is an expert...
-
Mon, 26 October 2020
With the unprecedented level of uncertainty in the economy, the ability to adapt has never been more important. This is especially true in the world of forecasting. In this podcast, ERSA’s host is...
-
Fri, 16 October 2020
Levels of uncertainty have existed throughout time yet measuring uncertainty in the past has posed many challenges. An Associate Professor of Finance from Kellogg School of Management, Prof. Scott...
-
Mon, 12 October 2020
Shortly after the October MPR, ERSA’s host sat down with Dr Chris Loewald, the Head of the Research Department at the Reserve Bank, and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee to discuss some of...
-
Thu, 01 October 2020
Adapting to the times, ERSA introduces its new initiative – the South African Modelling Network. In this podcast, Margaux G meets up with ERSA’s Deputy...
-
Fri, 02 October 2020
In this podcast, ERSA’s host speaks to Isaah Mhlanga, a Chief Economist at Alexander Forbes about the latest unemployment figures released by Statistics...
-
Wed, 08 July 2020
Shortly after the Minister of Finance gave his Supplementary Budget Speech, ERSA’s host, Margaux G met up with Prof. Estian Calitz, an Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of...