Director’s Statement

Last year I wrote to you about ERSA’s commitment to a Southern Africa where high-quality research informs the economic policies that drive growth. This year we built on the foundations laid previously, and I am pleased to reflect on the progress made.

Through the Working Paper Series, we received 73 submissions and published 26 papers. The submission and dissemination platform introduced last year is now well established, and ERSA research is currently cited at an average of close to 20 new citations per month. Several working papers also progressed to publication in respected international journals during the year.

We published seven policy papers, five policy briefs, and a series of economic notes. The year saw the completion of our From 1994 to Now Policy Paper Series, with the final three papers, on monetary, competition, and industrial policy, bringing to ten the set of retrospective analyses on three decades of South African economic policy. These were presented alongside the full series at the SALDRU South Africa at 30 Years of Democracy event. We also launched the ERSA Economic Growth Series, focused on identifying binding constraints to growth and proposing actionable reform; sixteen proposals were selected for development, with the first papers – on the mining slowdown and on merger control – published during the year in review.

We hosted or co-hosted thirteen policy dialogues over the year, spanning monetary policy, digital platform competition policy, health economics, economic history, industrial policy, and applied economics for developing countries. The Growth Conference, hosted jointly with the South African Reserve Bank in March 2026, brought policymakers, business leaders, and researchers together around the question of how to find a path to sustained growth and employment. Framed for a policy audience, it surfaced a shared diagnosis of the constraints holding back growth – the cost of doing business, product market regulation, weak firm dynamism, and spatial and housing constraints on labour – that now informs our forward agenda.

Our skills development programme continued, with seven workshops delivered in core and advanced quantitative methods and policy-relevant modelling. We were again privileged to host distinguished local and international academics.

We continued to prioritise communication. Engagement grew substantially over the year: reach across our website and social media channels exceeded one million views, website use and our social media following both rose markedly, and our mailing list expanded.

Throughout, we worked to remain policy relevant and responsive. Trade featured prominently, with research quantifying the risks the 2025 United States tariff increases pose to South African exports and to the benefits we derive from AGOA. Our Digital Platform Competition and Regulation project advanced from a researchers’ workshop to a full conference, and a new programme on health economics and policy was launched.

To more strongly incentivise quality and rigour, we have increased the stipends awarded for the publication of ERSA working papers in accredited top-ranked journals. We are preparing new Requests for Proposals in Environmental Policy and Macroeconomic Policy, and will commission a second round of Growth, Productivity and Employment policy papers in preparation for the 2nd ERSA Growth Conference in 2027. Our convening calendar for 2026/27 is already substantially in place, with conferences on trade, environmental economics, health economics, and – in partnership with CEPR – macroeconomic policy in emerging markets, alongside a full programme of skills and researchers’ workshops.

I extend my sincere gratitude to our research community, partners, and stakeholders for your continued support. I am especially grateful to the ERSA internal team, whose dedication made this year’s achievements possible – Megan Matthews, Yoemna Mosaval, Claudine Tshabalala, Margaux Giannaros, Prof. Steve Koch, and Prof. Guangling Liu. A special word of thanks to the ERSA fellowship and the ERSA Board for its steadfast support, collaboration and its enduring belief in ERSA’s mission.

Fouché Venter
Executive Director