Welcome to ERSA

Research Briefs

Monetary policy in a model with commodity and financial markets by Vo Phuong Mai Le and Ruthira Naraidoo

Uncovering the key drivers of business cycles of commodity exporting economies continues to dominate the literature on small open and emerging market economies.

Can paid maternity leave improve childhood health? by Neryvia Pillay Bell

Evidence from California shows that paid maternity leave leads to improved health outcomes among elementary school children.

Efficiency in South African water utilities: a comparison of estimates from DEA, SFA and StoNED by Genius Murwirapachena, Jugal Mahabir, Richard Mulwa and Johane Dikgang

Climate change has brought renewed and increasing attention to the productivity and efficiency of the water sector.

Latest Publications

Migration, Income Pooling and Food Deprivation in Zimbabwe by Gift Dafuleya

Income pooling in the context of geographically stretched households, that is, households with migrants who maintain close relations and economic ties with household members left behind, is examined in this article.

The Origin of Extractive States in Africa: The Case of the British Cape Colony, 1834-1909 by Abel Gwaindepi and Johan Fourie

The majority of African states continue to be regarded as extractive states. We use the Cape Colony's public expenditure to account for the emergence of extractive states in Africa.

Monetary policy in a model with commodity and financial market by Vo Phuong Mai Le and Ruthira Naraidoo

This paper builds a small open economy model for a net commodity exporter to consider financial frictions and monetary policies in order to investigate the main determinants of business cycles.

Who benefits from South African Child Support Grant: The role of gender and birthweight by Adeola Oyenubi

Stunting (low height-for-age) is known to be a good proxy for a child’s wellbeing.

Efficiency in South African water utilities: a comparison of estimates from DEA, SFA and StoNED by Genius Murwirapachena, Jugal Mahabir, Richard Mulwa and Johane Dikgang

Climate change has brought renewed and increasing attention to the productivity and efficiency of the water sector. This has stimulated interest, which has manifested itself in the increased application of statistical tools to measure the productivity and efficiency of water utilities.

Workshops

Call for Application: Skills Development Training in Econometrics
Monday, December 2, 2019 to Friday, December 6, 2019
 ERSA is pleased to invite applications for the Skill Development Training Programme in basic Econometrics for academics and postgraduate students (masters and PhD) with limited training in Econometrics and quantitative methods.
Workshop location: Department of Economics, University of Pretoria

Latest Journal Publications

Factors influencing people’s perceptions towards conservation of transboundary wildlife resources. The case of the Great-Limpopo Trans-frontier Conservation Area by Herbert Ntuli, Sverker C. Jagers, Edwin Muchapondwa, Amanda Linell, Martin SjÖstedt
Biodiversity and Conservation (https://www.springerprofessional.de/factors-influencing-local-communities-percep...)

Local people’s perceptions of protected areas greatly determine the success of conservation efforts in Southern Africa as these perceptions affect people’s attitudes and behaviour in respect to conservation.

The J–Curve Phenomenon: Evidence from Commodity Trade Between South Africa and the United States by Hammed Amusa and David Fadiran
J.Stud.Econ.Econometrics,2019,43 (1) (https://journals.co.za/content/journal/10520/EJC-1665285ea7)

Previous studies on the J–curve phenomenon for South Africa have been carried out using either aggregate trade data between South Africa and the rest of the world or between South Africa and her major trading partners.

Teacher Pay and Educational Outcomes: Evidence from the Rural Hardship Allowance in Zambia by Grieve Chelwa, Miquel Pellicer, Mashekwa Maboshe
South African Journal of Economics (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/saje.12227)

This paper studies the effect of unconditional teacher salary increases on teacher and student outcomes. To study the issue, we evaluate the rural hardship allowance in Zambia, which corresponds to a salary increase of 20%.

The household effects of very large electricity tariff hikes in Zambia by Mashekwa Maboshe, Akabondo Kabechani and Grieve Chelwa
Energy Policy 126 (2019) 108-117 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421518306967?via%3Dihub)

This paper simulates the real household expenditure effects of electricity price increases in Zambia. First, we find that electricity subsidies are highly regressive.

Is Democracy Eluding Sub-Saharan Africa? by Carolyn Chisadza and Manoel Bittencourt
The Social Science Journal: Volume 56, Issue 2 (https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Z4IH1IOdvH-ai)

This paper analyses the modernisation hypothesis in the sub-Saharan African region.