Welcome to ERSA

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

Research Briefs

The behaviour of the real effective rate of South Africa: is there a misalignment by Melvin M. Khomo and Meshach J. Aziakpono

Results endorse the existence of a cointegrating relationship between the exchange rate and terms of trade (including gold), external openness, capital flows and government expenditure.

National minimum wage in South Africa: A Computable General Equilibrium Model Analysis by Jean Luc Erero

Proponents of the national minimum wage such as Isaacs and Fine (2015) argue that setting a minimum wage should not occur in isolation, and other policy procedures to create jobs and stimulate high wages must be instigated in sequence.

Does Infrastructure Really Explain Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa by Odongo Kodongo and Kalu Ojah

We, therefore, provide what, in our view, is a much more comprehensive analysis of the infrastructure—growth nexus to date.

Latest Publications

An Econometric Method for Estimating Population Parameters from Non-Random Samples: An Application to Clinical Case Finding by Rulof P. Burger, PhD and Zoë M. McLaren, PhD

The problem of sample selection complicates the process of drawing inference about populations. Selective sampling arises in many real world situations when agents such as doctors and customs officials search for targets with high values of a characteristic.

Shaping macroeconomics outcomes by Chris Loewald

By early 2016, financial market participants had become increasingly critical of unsustainable current account deficits and low, unbalanced growth in many emerging economies.

Which comes first: good governance or prosperity? A historical experiment from the South African Republic and the Orange Free State by Stan du Plessis and Sophia du Plessis

Two neighbouring republics, with a common history and culture, followed very different paths of development in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Decomposing the South African CO₂ Emissions within a BRICS Countries Context: The Energy Rebound Hypothesis by Roula Inglesi-Lotz

The main purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis of the rebound effect for the South African case in the years between 1990 to 2014 by firstly, decomposing the driving forces of the changes in CO2 emissions of the country and secondly, comparing with the behaviors of other emerging econom

Private Schools and Student Learning Achievements in Kenya by Fredrick M. Wamalwa & Justine Burns

This papers examines the effect of private schools on literacy and numeracy skill acquisition among children mainly drawn from lower primary grades in Kenya. We apply a number of estimation approaches that accounts for endogeneity of school choice. We begin with the OLS, as a baseline model.

Latest News

ERSA 2016 Prizewinners

Faculty of Commerce Awards for Excellence was held on Friday 5 May 2017 at the New Lecture Theatre on UCTs Upper Campus. Professor Lawrence Edwards from the School of Economics represented ERSA at the function. View the award gallery page here.

Workshops

7th Annual Meeting of the African Economic History Network: Innovation and the African Past

Wednesday, October 25, 2017 to Friday, October 27, 2017

The African Economic History Network, in association with the Laboratory for the Economics Africa's Past at Stellenbosch University, Harvard Univeristy's Center for African Studies and

Workshop location: Stellenbosch, South Africa

Latest Journal Publications

Small-scale Subsistence Farming, Food Security, Climate Change and Adaptation in South Africa: Male-Female Headed Households and Urban-Rural Nexus by Byela Tibesigwa and Martine Visser

World Development Vol. 88, pp.33-49, 2016 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.07.008)

This study examines the role of gender of the head of household on the food security of small-scale subsistence farmers in urban and rural areas of South Africa, using the exogenous switching treatment-effects regression framework.

The Data Revolution in African Economic History by Johan Fourie

Journal of Interdisciplinary History (http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/JINH_a_00977)

Big Data can be consequential for the field of history.

Buyer-Seller Relationships in International Trade: Do Your Neighbors Matter? by Fariha Kamal and Asha Sundaram

Journal of International Economics (http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1TUUc5330FcSm)

Using confidential U.S. customs data on trade transactions between U.S. importers and Bangladeshi exporters between 2002 and 2009, and information on the geographic location of Bangladeshi exporters, we show that the presence of neighboring exporters that previously transacted with a U.S.

Valuing User Preferences for Improvements in Public Nature Trails Around the Sundays River Estuary, Eastern Cape, South Africa by Deborah E. Lee, Stephen G. Hosking and Mario du Preez

Journal of Economic and Financial Sciences (http://reference.sabinet.co.za/document/EJC189984)

Many valuations have been made of changes to in-estuary attributes but few have been made of out-of-estuary attributes.

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

Ecological Economics (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.06.022)

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.