Welcome to ERSA

Policy Briefs

Assessing inflation targeting and its communication by 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
Relating public and private remuneration by 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.
The effects of presentation formats in choice experiments by Genius Murwirapachena and Johane Dikgang

In most choice experiment studies in environmental economics, the attributes of non-traded environmental goods are communicated to respondents in the form of a table consisting of verbal descriptions. The table normally consists of attributes, their detailed descriptions, and levels.

Latest Publications

A financial stress index for South Africa: A time-varying correlation approach by Theshne Kisten

This paper develops a new index of financial market stress for South Africa (SAFSI) over the period 1995-2017, that has the advantage of capturing the interconnectedness of financial markets as well as enabling each indicator to be assessed in terms of its systemic importance.

Missing boys: Explaining South Africa’s unbalanced sex ratio, 1894-2011 by Francisco J. Marco-Gracia and Johan Fourie

At the beginning of the twentieth century the sex ratio for South Africans differed markedly according to racial group.

The effects of presentation formats in choice experiments by Genius Murwirapachena and Johane Dikgang

Although stated-preference surveys take various forms, the use of either text or visuals to represent attributes is uncontroversial, and they remain the commonly used formats.

Capital Account Liberalization and Capital Flows to Sub-Saharan Africa: A Panel Threshold Approach by Tamara Esther Mughogho and Imhotep Paul Alagidede

Theory on capital account liberalization (CAL) posits that opening up capital accounts should result in inflows of capital to developing countries. Empirical evidence of this for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains wanting.

Spatial dependence of per capita property tax income in South Africa by Kabeya Clement Mulamba and Fiona Tergenna

We investigate spatial dependence of per capita property tax income among South African municipalities. One original contribution of our study is the use of per capita property tax income, rather than the property tax rate, as the outcome variable.

Workshops

Macroeconomic and Financial Modelling for Economic Policy
Tuesday, November 26, 2019 to Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Workshop location: University of Pretoria, Research Hub - EMS Building
The 7th Annual Monetary Economics workshop will be dedicated to the contribution of macroeconomic and financial modelling to the formulation of economic policy.
CALL FOR PAPERS: Representivity, Diversity, and Gender in Economics in South Africa
Saturday, February 1, 2020 to Thursday, February 27, 2020
Workshop location: TBC, South Africa
South Africa has had its fair share of issues with regards to the participation and contribution of various groups in society. These issues cut across various social cleavages such as race and gender.
Invite and Call for Papers: Economics of Digitization
Wednesday, April 8, 2020 to Thursday, April 9, 2020
Workshop location: Cape Town
**Keynote Speakers**Marc Bourreau (Telecom Paris)Frank Verboven (KU Leuven)

Latest Journal Publications

Is Basel III counter-cyclical: The case of South Africa? by Guangling Liu and Thabang Molise
Economic Modelling (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264999318306060)
This paper develops a dynamic general equilibrium model with banking and a macro-prudential authority, and studies the extent to which the Basel III bank capital regulation promotes financial and macroeconomic stability in the context of South African economy.
Realized correlations, betas and volatility spillover in the commodity market: What has changed? by Matteo Bonato
Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104244311830009X?via%3Dihub)
This papers adopts the recently proposed realized Beta GARCH model of Hansen et al. (J. Appl. Econ.
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.

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.