Glossary | Economic Research Southern Africa

Glossary

Welcome to the ERSA Glossary page, your guide to understanding the array of research outputs and publications we provide. At ERSA, we are committed to fostering economic research and policy analysis that informs and shapes the economic discourse. Our publications range from in-depth research papers to concise policy recommendations, each serving a unique purpose in the landscape of economic policy development.

Occasional Paper

ERSA’s Occasional Papers are once-off extensive research papers that engage with economic issues and identify policy recommendations. They are conducted by researchers belonging to one or several academic institutions, and identify areas of future research.

Policy Brief

ERSA’s Policy Briefs are summarised versions of policy research that identify an economic issue and potential policy solutions and recommendations based on the research. They include graphs, charts and other visual aids that explain the essence of the research. Authors can be contacted for further information on their research.

Policy Bulletin

The ERSA policy bulletin is a vehicle for preliminary research, lightly reviewed, on current policy issues and debates. Policy bulletins emphasise brief, focused, and timely interventions. The desk review will evaluate ethical and professional standards, basic research design, and the interest of the topic. The manuscript should not be longer than seven printed pages, excluding tables, figures, and references. Authors willing to present their research in this series should send the manuscript in PDF format to policy.bulletin@econrsa.org.

Policy Paper

ERSA’s Policy Papers are technical, collaborative research papers that explore economic issues and identify policy recommendations. They are conducted by researchers belonging to one or several policy institutions, and can be summarised into Policy Bulletins for ease of understanding.

Discussion Documents

Discussion documents are generally solicited pieces on topical issues of relevance to the national economic debate. The intention is to provide a summary of the issue, accompanied by a discussion about its relevance, importance, and way forward in South Africa. Generally, these are narrative driven contributions, relying on existing work and high-level analysis.
We provide the opportunity for contribution from all relevant perspectives, and therefore these papers do not represent a position by ERSA, its associates, or funders on the identified issues.