South Africa

Quality of life: Validation of an instrument and analysis of relationships between domains

Quality of life (QoL) is now widely recognised as a multidimensional concept. This study validates an instrument to measure multidimensional QoL, and investigates the relationships between the domains thereof. The domains analysed are: health, housing and infrastructure, socio-economic status, social relationships, governance and safety. We utilise a rich household-level dataset collected by the GCRO on QoL in the Gauteng city-region of South Africa.

The Demand for Cigarettes: New Evidence from South Africa

This paper provides an extensive analysis of the demand for cigarettes based on longitudinal data drawn from the South Africa National Income and Dynamic Study (NIDS: 2008 - 2014). We compare the results of the pooled OLS (POLS), the standard two-part model, the random and the fixed effect (RE, FE) panel regression. Like previous evidence into cigarette prices, we obtain negative price elasticity of demand for cigarettes, with the conditional elasticity (POLS and RE estimates) signicantly smaller than the total price elasticity (two-part model estimates).

Real Exchange Rate Volatility and Employment Growth in South Africa: The Case of Manufacturing

This paper investigates the effect of exchange rate volatility on employment growth in South Africa, a country that is characterised by high rates of unemployment and relatively high exchange rate volatility. Employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration method over the period 1995Q3 to 2015Q2 and using a variety of specifications, results show that real exchange rate volatility has a significant contractionary effect on manufacturing employment growth.

Unfulfilled Expectations and Populist Politics: Examining the Emergence of the EFF in South Africa

The last decade has seen the resurgence of populism with South Africa not spared. In South Africa, the elections in 2014 saw the emergence of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) which, through its own brand of populist politics, won over 6.5 percent of the vote making it the third largest party in the country. However, the question of what drives people towards populist parties in the South African context has not been answered.

Obesity Based Labour Market Discrimination in South Africa: A Dynamic Panel Analysis

There is increasing concern regarding obesity related healthcare costs in South Africa. Obesity is also seen to have far reaching effects that seep into labour market outcomes (Barnett & Kumar, 2009). Using NIDS panel data, this study aims to examine the relationship between Body Mass Index and employment status as well as wage levels. This is done using a probit and tobit model and thereafter a system GMM model to take endogeneity into account.

The impact of Monetary Policy Announcements and Political Events on the Exchange Rate: The Case of South Africa

Since 2000 the South African rand has been among the most volatile emerging market currencies, occasionally experiencing sharp depreciations. These sharp fluctuations in the value of the currency cannot be adequately explained by models of flow-supply and flow-demand of currency or by movements in fundamental factors, yet few studies have employed an asset pricing approach to explain exchange rate variability in emerging markets.

An Econometric Method for Estimating Population Parameters from Non-Random Samples: An Application to Clinical Case Finding

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. We propose a new method for estimating population characteristics from these types of selected samples. We develop a model that captures key features of the agent's sampling decision.

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

Two neighbouring republics, with a common history and culture, followed very different paths of development in the second half of the nineteenth century. Extraordinary mineral wealth was discovered during this period in the South African Republic (ZAR), the neighbour where political and economic stability was fragile compared with the Republic of the Orange Free State (OFS).

Decomposing the South African CO₂ Emissions within a BRICS Countries Context: The Energy Rebound Hypothesis

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 economies such as BRICS.

The Competitive Status of the South African Wheat Industry

This article investigates the competitiveness of the South African wheat industry and compares it to its major trade partners. Since 1997, the wheat-to-bread value chain has been characterised by concentration of ownership and regulation. This led to concerns that the local wheat market is losing international competitiveness. The competitive status of the wheat industry, and its sub-sectors, is determined through the estimation of the relative trade advantage (RTA). The results revealed declining competitiveness of local wheat producers.

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