Policy Papers

Through 43 years of history, this study identifies proximate causes of aggregate volatility in South Africa, the obstacles to managing those volatility risks, and suggests how the country can harness globalization to strengthen financial institutions in order to manage risks better. Macroeconomic...

The paper provides a first systematic, comprehensive benchmarking of South Africa's infrastructure performance in four major sectors - electricity, water and sanitation, information and communication technology, and transportation - against the relevant group of comparator countries using a new...

Achieving high levels of school quality is difficult everywhere. Aspects of the recent experience of the United States are reviewed, with special attention paid to incentive issues. Statistical evidence on school enrolments since 1980 is presented as a background to resource reallocation since 1994...

Statistical information on the output of universities and technikons is set out before the description of extensive policy development in higher education since 1995. These developments are assessed against a changing pattern of Senior Certificate passes and enrolments. The production of teachers...

The bilaterally monopolistic nature of relationships between partners, combined with the addictive nature of love, which represents the emotion people feel during the course of a relationship, results in love growth when relationships are based on commitment. However, in relationships with less...

It is often argued that since the social return to R&D exceeds the private return, the government should provide incentives for R&D expenditure. This paper considers the issue of the impact of such incentives on the fiscal position of the government, using a simple comparative static model...

South Africa is an open economy, and, therefore, it is affected by what happens in foreign markets. Exports and export growth are cornerstones of South African economic development policy. One of the implications of an export-orientated economy is that many of its SMME manufacturers must, of...

The paper takes stock of South Africa’s past growth experience during the period 1970-2000. It discuses major factors of growth, including physical and human capital, and institutions, and draws conclusions about the constraints to long-run growth in the future. We highlight three main conclusions...

Large cash transfers to elderly South Africans, in the form of government pensions, boost the job prospects of working-age members of their households. In particular, men and women between the ages of 18 and 50, who live in a household with a pensioner, are more likely to become migrant workers...