Factors contributing to the demise of informal enterprises: evidence from a...
The reasons for the closure of fairly well-established informal enterprises are varied. Between 2010 and 2015, in the Cape Flats township of Delft South, a key factor was the failure to respond...
View ArticleREDI3x3 conference: Policies for inclusive growth
The REDI3x3 research project has completed most of its research at a time when unemployment, poverty and inequality is intense. With growth at just 0.5%, government needs to become more innovative in...
View ArticleCould informal enterprises stimulate township economies? A study of two...
Informal enterprises are perceived to lack the necessary business and economic fundamentals to stimulate their local economies. However, informal enterprises are not homogenous. In a study of...
View ArticleWhat makes the rand so volatile: global or home-made factors?
Exchange-rate volatility can complicate decisions concerning trade and investment and constrain a country’s economic growth. Understanding what contributes to a currency’s volatility is an important...
View ArticleInnovative joint ventures can boost agricultural production and promote...
Growing agriculture can reduce poverty, create economic opportunities in rural and peri-urban areas, and boost employment, particularly for semi- and unskilled workers. We review several successful...
View Article‘You can’t bite the hand that feeds you’: Contracts between SME suppliers and...
This article examines the implications of the contracts between the four main South African supermarkets and their SME suppliers. Supermarkets’ procurement practices, in particular their practice of...
View ArticleA job in the informal sector reduces poverty about as much as a job in the...
In the aggregate, earnings from jobs in the informal sector play a small role in reducing national poverty rates, especially because there are relatively few informal-sector jobs. However, if we...
View ArticleTechnology and minimum wages are likely to change the mix of capital and...
While technology is making capital cheaper, policies like the national minimum wage will make labour more expensive. What does this mean for the choices firms make in terms of labour and capital...
View ArticleThe Transkei Wild Coast: still waiting for something to happen
The Wild Coast, in the former Transkei Bantustan, is characterised by natural beauty and great poverty. Since 1994 rural land administration has collapsed, land tenure has not been reformed, a...
View ArticleThe former Transkei and Ciskei homelands are still poor, but is there an...
The dominant perspective on the economic situation of the former homelands is that long-term, deliberate neglect has left a durable legacy of poverty and stagnation. While this may be largely correct,...
View ArticleLand and property rights: 'title deeds as usual' won’t work
Renewed emphasis in policy discourses on systematic land titling to solve insecure tenure in South Africa is understandable. A staggering two thirds of the citizenry hold off-register land rights....
View ArticleReservation wages found in surveys can be very misleading
The responses of unemployed workers to the typical survey question about their ‘lowest acceptable wages’ are susceptible to error and overestimation – particularly for people in persistent joblessness....
View ArticleAre we measuring poverty and inequality correctly? Comparing earnings using...
Calculating the earnings Gini coefficient with survey data from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) may lead to an underestimation of inequality. When one compares earnings in the tax assessments...
View ArticleWhat makes the rand so volatile: global or home-made factors?
Exchange-rate volatility can complicate decisions concerning trade and investment and constrain a country’s economic growth. Understanding what contributes to a currency’s volatility is an important...
View ArticleInnovative joint ventures can boost agricultural production and promote...
Growing agriculture can reduce poverty, create economic opportunities in rural and peri-urban areas, and boost employment, particularly for semi- and unskilled workers. We review several successful...
View Article‘You can’t bite the hand that feeds you’: Contracts between SME suppliers and...
This article examines the implications of the contracts between the four main South African supermarkets and their SME suppliers. Supermarkets’ procurement practices, in particular their practice of...
View ArticleA job in the informal sector reduces poverty about as much as a job in the...
In the aggregate, earnings from jobs in the informal sector play a small role in reducing national poverty rates, especially because there are relatively few informal-sector jobs. However, if we...
View ArticleTechnology and minimum wages are likely to change the mix of capital and...
While technology is making capital cheaper, policies like the national minimum wage will make labour more expensive. What does this mean for the choices firms make in terms of labour and capital...
View ArticleThe Transkei Wild Coast: still waiting for something to happen
The Wild Coast, in the former Transkei Bantustan, is characterised by natural beauty and great poverty. Since 1994 rural land administration has collapsed, land tenure has not been reformed, a...
View ArticleThe former Transkei and Ciskei homelands are still poor, but is there an...
The dominant perspective on the economic situation of the former homelands is that long-term, deliberate neglect has left a durable legacy of poverty and stagnation. While this may be largely correct,...
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