Following the worldwide movement calling for responsible global corporate citizenry, there has been a shift in thinking about the role and involvement of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in areas of limited statehood. There is a growing expectation of transparency in MNE dealings with such governments and more active corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, focused on capacity building and development. However, because the state is often unwilling or unable to provide basic services, facilities and infrastructure, local populations have come to expect these tasks to be carried out by MNEs operating in their area that often reluctantly comply. This has blurred the distinction between where the responsibilities of the MNE starts and ends, and has led to the creation of hybrid organizations, and innovative partnerships which seeks to engage with stakeholders and contribute towards broader development goals. Our focus is at a more aggregate level about when, how and why a MNE may opt for a more engaged approach as opposed to a more transactional one in a post-conflict setting.
Welcome to ERSA
Research Briefs
Private Schools and Student Learning Achievements in Kenya
In a number of sub-Saharan African countries, evidence shows that the elimination of user fees in public primary schools was followed by dramatic increases in private schools. The rise in private schools has been associated with high demand for school places in the face of limited supply of quality schools from the government. Majority of these schools have been born out of community or private initiatives to establish schools mainly within the urban informal settlements, schools that levy low fees, referred to in the literature as low-cost private schools.
Rural Electrification policy: The potential in micro hydro electricity
Developing countries particularly those within the Sub-Saharan African region like Kenya account for almost half of the 1.2 Billion people in the world without access to electricity. These countries have a greater challenge of dealing with outcomes related to the lack of modern energy by rural households, who comprise a bigger proportion of their population. Part of the explanation is the energy policy preoccupation with centralized grid electrification whose economics does not favour scattered and low income households in the vast rural areas. Subsequently, even with heavy rural electrification campaigns, new patters of large section of the population that does not take up connection and limitation of electricity to very basic uses by household’s calls for alternative considerations in energy policy.
Latest Publications
Impact of macroeconomic announcements on foreign exchange volatility: Evidence from South Africa
This study focuses on scheduled macroeconomic news announcements and evaluates their impact on the volatility of the South African rand (ZAR) and US dollar (USD) exchange rate using high frequency data.
Homelessness, Property Rights, and Institutional Logics
We explore whether there is evidence of property rights amongst the homeless, and if so, how these rights are governed.
‘The Prince and the Pauper’: The effect of inherited-wealth status on productivity in the lab
There is limited theory and empirical evidence about the effects of inherited wealth and social comparison on individual labor-market behavior.
Evolution and Measurement of Formal Institutions in Cote D’Ivore
This study analyzes the evolution of institutions in Côte d’Ivoire using a new set of data on institutions. Three types of indexes have been constructed: the Property Right Index, the Political Freedoms and Civil Liberties Index and the Political Instability Index.
An Analysis of Competition, Efficiency and Soundness in the South African Banking Sector
The main aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between competition and efficiency in the South African banking sector, then go further, and see how these variables affect bank soundness.
Latest News
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.
Latest Journal Publications
Exploring Unbalanced Growth in South Africa: Understanding the Sectoral Structure of the South African Economy
Economic Modelling, (2018) 1 – 13 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999317309811)
This paper explores the reasons for the unbalanced growth structure of South Africa.
Using a Natural Experiment to Examine Tobacco Tax Regressivity
Social Science & Medicine (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.004)
We take advantage of a tobacco tax hike that occurred during the collection of the South African Income and Expenditure Survey to examine the regressivity of tobacco taxes. We are also able to examine the relative change in regressivity following the tax increase.
Pricing electricty blackout among South African households
Journal of Commodity Markets (https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomm.2018.03.001)
South African households, like households in many other developing countries, are faced with regular power outages. This is a big problem, since the outages that the households experience are both frequent and long in duration.
The Interdependence between the Saving Rate and Technology across Regimes: Evidence from South Africa
Empirical Economics Journal (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00181-017-1354-y)
This paper hypothesises that the saving rate and technological progress are interdependently determined by a common exogenous source, so that an exogenous shock to the saving rate determines long-run growth transitions.
Price-setting Behavior and Competition in Developing Countries: An Analysis of Retail Outlets in Lesotho
Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10842-018-0275-6)
We study the relationship between price-setting behavior and the degree of competition in a setting where markets and information flows are relatively imperfect.
Follow us on social network