public sector | Economic Research Southern Africa

Call for Papers: An ERSA Research Workshop: The fiscal history of Sub-Saharan Africa

The public finances of African governments in the colonial and post-independence periods have been the subject of substantial new research in recent years. Within the broader field of African economic history, the fiscal history of the continent has yielded insights into the capacity and aims of state institutions over time, as well as the economic […]

Can a universal basic income contribute to breaking structural poverty in South Africa? Annotated Bibliography

Occasional Paper 02 This annotated bibliography provides a non-exhaustive list of references which may be useful to policymakers and other actors interested in the potential of a Universal Basic Income Grant (UBI/UBIG) to disrupt structural poverty in South Africa, across a number of dimensions. Each reference is accompanied by a brief explanation of its key […]

Can a universal basic income contribute to breaking structural poverty in South Africa?

Discussion Document 03 Much of the debate about the introduction of a universal basic income grant (UBIG) in South Africa is concerned with its feasibility and sustainability. This paper asks important questions, but they can only be understood in relation to the long-term social and economic benefits of a UBIG. In a wide-ranging review of […]

Universal Basic Income: How the experience in developing countries can inform the discussion in South Africa

Discussion Document 01 This paper considers how the COVID-19 pandemic gave new traction to the discussion about Universal Basic Income (UBI), particularly in South Africa, where members of government and civil society have been advocating for transforming the special COVID-19 social relief of distress grant into a UBI scheme. The present report aims at contributing […]

Policy Bulletin 02: Reflections on Aspects of Public Finance and Fiscal Policy in South Africa

After the COVID-19 crisis is over, South Africa will face a fiscal mountain that looks insurmountable. Many of the problems experienced in the public finances originated outside of the fiscus and have to be addressed at source, neither fiscal discretion, nor fiscal rules or any fiscal framework, will be effective unless there is collective commitment […]

Financial Statecraft: Government Choice of Debt Instruments

We explore the diversity of means by which governments borrow – from commercial banks, sovereign bond issues, official bilateral creditors, and multilateral financial institutions. Although political economy scholars tend to analyze financing instruments in isolation from one another, governments make choices across borrowing instruments. Although these choices partly reflect governments’ macroeconomic profiles and country creditworthiness, […]

Prof Johannes W. Fedderke on the South African – US sovereign bond spread: how is this associated with macroeconomic variables?

In this podcast, Prof. Johannes W. Fedderke, the Director of ERSA speaks to our host, Margaux G about his research on the South African – US sovereign bond spread. The cost that the South African government faces when borrowing in open markets is high compared to safe markets such as the US, despite being low […]

Nicola Viegi on the South African economic response to the Coronavirus: policies and protection

Nicola Viegi, Deputy Director of ERSA, talks with Margaux G on the South African economic response to the Coronavirus. Health intervention and household support is the first priority, but policies should also protect the integrity of supply chains and the integrity of labour contracts, even with temporary reductions of wages and public guarantees. The partial […]

Relating public and private remuneration

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 authors conducted an empirical investigation into remuneration patterns […]

Public Infrastructure Provision and Ethnic Favouritism: Evidence from South Africa

Does ethnic favouritism in administrative governments affect public infrastructure provision? While previous literature has studied the effects of ethnic favouritism on economic growth and development determinants, there has been limited empirical evidence on ethnic favouritism in public infrastructure provision, particularly in South Africa. We study the effects of ethnic favouritism on provision of water and […]

Aggregate and sectoral public-private remuneration patterns in South Africa

This paper investigates the aggregate and sectoral public-private remuneration pattern in South Africa from 2001:q1 to 2017:q1. Co-integration analysis confirm a stable, long-run relationship. The adjustment to the deviations from this long-run relationship is strong and significant for public-sector remuneration, while private-sector earnings neither respond to the deviations from the long-run relationship nor lagged changes […]

Aggregate and sectoral public-private remuneration patterns in South Africa Research Brief

This paper investigates the aggregate and sectoral public-private remuneration pattern in South Africa since the introduction of an inflation-targeting framework in 2000. The analysis is carried out with quarterly data for aggregate and 5 public and 6 private sector earnings per employee. Two research questions are addressed: First, is there a pattern of earnings development between […]

The origin of extractive states in Africa: The case of the British Cape Colony, 1834-1909

The majority of African states continue to be regarded as extractive states. We use the Cape Colony’s public expenditure to account for the emergence of extractive states in Africa. With a sub-imperial role for Southern African colonial expansion, the Cape Colony became a template for extractive practices that continue to characterize the region. Using public […]

Public-private sector wage differentials and household poverty among Black South Africans

This paper examines the extent and implications of the public-private sector wage differential prevalent amongst the Black South African populace. In this paper we quantify the public sector wage premium, examine the impact of the wage premium on the incidence of household poverty, and perform a robustness analysis to determine whether the poverty effect of […]

Alternative Strategies for Public Debt Issuance in Zimbabwe: Is there a Trade off?

Introduction As part of managing a debt portfolio, debt managers face the complex task of choosing a debt strategy that minimises the cost of debt, subject to a prudent degree of risk. This is particularly so because public debt management decisions depend on numerous random factors, which are not under the control of the debt […]

Simulation Analysis of Alternative Strategies for Public Debt Issuance in Zimbabwe: Is there a Trade-off?

This paper discusses the simulation analysis of alternative public debt strategies for public debt issuance in Zimbabwe. The analysis is undertaken with a view to find a strategy that minimises the cost and risk of public debt under alternative scenarios of interest and exchange rate developments. The analysis is based on the premise that increases […]

An ERSA Research Workshop: The fiscal history of Sub-Saharan Africa

Assessment of Monetary Union in SADC: Evidence from Cointegration and Panel Unit Root Tests

In this paper we investigate the likelihood of a proposed monetary union in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) being successful from the viewpoint of the Generalised Purchasing Power Parity (GPPP) hypothesis and optimum currency area (OCA) theory. We apply Johansen’s multivariate co-integration technique, panel unit root tests, Pedroni’s residual cointegration test and error correction […]

Private Shareholding and Public Interest: An Analysis of an Eclectic Group of Central Banks

Although the title seems to be a contradictio in terminis, this paper shows that there are a small eclectic number of central banks with private shareholders. This paper reviews this selected group of central banks on which surprisingly little has been published. The first challenge is to identify these central banks, as no “generally accepted” […]

An economic model of the apartheid state

Rather than a rigid racial ideology, it is argued that South African apartheid was a pragmatic response of a white oligarchy to changing economic and political constraints. Consequently, the degree to which apartheid principles were applied and enforced by the South African state varied over time. A public choice model is developed to explain apartheid […]

Recurrent Property Rates – The Search for a Fair Tax Conducive to Economic Growth

The conflict between the need to attend to acute poverty in the present and the need to invest in longer-term poverty-reducing economic growth is a primary feature of the South African public policy landscape. Economic growth rates, while not alarmingly low (3.4% on average, annually, between 2000 and 2012, 1% from 2007-2012), have also not […]

Political Economy/Public Choice Economics

CALL FOR PAPERS The twentieth anniversary of the transition to democracy is an opportune time to reflect on trends in the political economy of post-apartheid South Africa. The two purposes of this workshop, which is organised jointly by the Public Economics Work Group and the Political Economy Node, are to provide a forum for such […]

Analyzing the Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Public Debt Dynamics in Zimbabwe

This paper provides an analysis of the theoretical and empirical foundations of public debt dynamics in Zimbabwe. The analysis was undertaken by applying the debt dynamics equation that enables estimating the required primary balance, building on the government inter-temporal budget constraint to infer the factors that influence public debt, as well as to ascertain specific […]

Anatomy of the Southern African Customs Union: Structure and Revenue Volatility

This paper studies the evolution of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), tracing it from its inception in 1889 as the Customs Union Convention, the world’s first customs union, to its current status. While the union has operated under different agreements, which have been negotiated and renegotiated with changing circumstances, the study identifies the agreements […]

Valuing User Preferences for Improvements in Public Nature Trails Around the Sundays River Estuary, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Many valuations have been made of changes to in-estuary attributes but few have been made of out-of-estuary attributes. From a recreation perspective, an important type of out-of-estuary attribute is the availability of public paths by which to access attractive features of the estuary environment. This paper values an improvement in the level of public access […]

The state of Public-Private-Partnerships – the State and Public-Private-Partnerships

Policy Paper (Interest) 17 This paper outlines the debates concerning the increasing popularity of the Public-Private-Partnership (PPPs) option as a viable strategy in a variety of both developed and developing countries. The essence of this contribution argues for a proper understanding of what PPPs are, what they can do, what their limitations are and what […]