South Africa

This paper uses price data, collected by Statistics South Africa, to estimate the effect of a change in the excise tax on the retail price of beer. We find strong evidence that the excise tax on beer is overshifted to consumers. The pass-through coefficient is estimated at 4.83 (95% CI: 4.02; 5.64...

This paper analyses the effects of increases in value added tax (VAT) through a dynamic computable general equilibrium model. The database of the model encompasses a social accounting matrix (SAM) for the year 2010. All the important South African taxes are included in the SAM and the household...

This paper explores the correlations of the short- and long-term interest rate series through time in South Africa. Two time series techniques are utilized: the Kapetanios et al. (2003) nonlinear STAR unit root test and the asymmetric cointegration with threshold adjustment test of Enders and...

This paper analyses the in‡fluence of the South African labour market on the conduct of monetary policy. Because of the weak response of wages to changes in employment, the South African Reserve Bank is confronted by an unfavourable short run unemployment-in‡flation trade off that complicates the...

This paper analyses the economy-wide impact of the dividend tax (DT) on the South African economy, which was increased from 10% to 15% by the government in 2012. The analysis was conducted using a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of South Africa, which captured the observed...

This paper develops a new index of economic uncertainty for South Africa for the period 1990-2014 and analyses the macroeconomic impact of changes in this measure. The index is constructed from three sources: (1) Disagreement among professional forecasters about macroeconomic conditions using novel...

The influx of asylum seekers and refugees from across Africa to democratic South Africa has increased significantly. The aim of this paper is to determine the factors that influence the ‘expected well-being’ of this unique group. ‘Expected well-being’ is an important determinant of both the...

Recent empirical migration literature in South Africa suggests that access to physical and human capital, in the way of finance and education respectively, are key factors in increasing one’s probability of migrating. This paper attempts to extend this literature by directly measuring the extent to...