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Working Paper
The impact on the South African economy of alternative regulatory arrangements in the petroleum sectorThis paper adds quantitative analysis to the study by Crompton et al. (2020) , in which various alternative regulatory arrangements regarding the petrol price in South Africa were explored...
Computable general equilibrium economic impact PricesWorking Paper
Exporters and global value chain participation: Firm-level evidence from South AfricaUsing the South African Revenue Service and National Treasury firm-level panel data for 2009–17, this paper investigates how global value chain-related trade affects the export performance of manufacturing firms in South Africa...
Global value chains Learning by exporting ProductivityResearch Brief
Are credits or deductions better in public health spending?: The impact on equality in South AfricaThe impact of medical deductions and medical credits on income inequality is a subject of discussion in South Africa, as well as in many other countries, raising critical questions about the fairness of the medical tax system and the impact on afford...
medical tax credit medical expenses tax deductionsWorking Paper
Petrol price regulation in South Africa: Is it meeting its intended objectives?The South African liquid fuels industry is a significant part of the economy. Historically, government policy focused on import substitution industrialization to support industry margins...
Prices South Africa DeregulationWorking Paper
Polarization in the South African labour market: Economy-wide scenariosTechnical change impacts both the employment intensity of production and the composition of occupations and skills of employment...
Labour market Polarization Computable general equilibriumResearch Brief
Turnin’ it up a notch: Can foreign direct investment help South Africa increase the complexity of its exports?Since the end of apartheid, South Africa’s economic challenges have disrupted efforts to establish a society of inclusive growth and prosperity...
economic complexity Foreign Direct Investment FDIWorking Paper
Globalization and gender inequality: Evidence from South AfricaInequality has been rising in most countries for several decades, with negative consequences for social cohesion and economic growth. Substantial gender wage gaps contribute significantly to overall wage inequality...
gender wage gap International trade Linked employer-employee dataWorking Paper
Building malls or metros?: South Africa’s exports of tradable urban services to the rest of AfricaService industries are increasingly important in international trade and offer additional paths to economic development. There are many opportunities to expand trade in services between South Africa and other African countries...
Africa International trade South AfricaWorking Paper
The impact of employment protection on the temporary employment services sector: Evidence from South Africa using data from tax recordsAttempts to regulate the temporary employment sector have had mixed results internationally. In South Africa, temporary employment was regulated in 2015 through amendments to the Labour Relations Act...
Administrative data employment protection legislation regression discontinuityWorking Paper
Taxpayer responsiveness to taxation: Evidence from bunching at kink points of the South African income tax scheduleThe author applies the bunching methodology to South African administrative tax data over the period from 2011 to 2017 to investigate the responsiveness of individual taxpayers to changes in marginal personal income tax rates...
bunching elasticity of taxable income personal income taxWorking Paper
South African population projection and household survey sample weight recalibrationThe existing sources of demographic data for South Africa have different strengths and limitations that make them inadequate for calibration of sample weights in post-apartheid South African household surveys...
Population projection recalibrationWorking Paper
A comparative study of export processing zones in the wake of the Sustainable Development Goals: The cases of Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, and ZimbabweThe objective of this research is to assess the extent to which export processing zones in Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe integrate the Sustainable Development Goals in their implementation and operations...
export processing zones Sustainable development BotswanaWorking Paper
Earnings in the South African Revenue Service IRP5 dataThe IRP5 and IT3(a) tax data from the South African Revenue Service have been made available to researchers through a joint project between the South African Revenue Service, the National Treasury, and UNU-WIDER...
Employment Labour income South AfricaWorking Paper
Wage polarization in a high-inequality emerging economy: The case of South AfricaEarnings growth in South Africa displayed a U-shaped pattern across the earnings percentiles between 2000 and 2015, resembling wage polarization in the industrialized world...
Inequality Minimum wage recentered influence functionWorking Paper
Structural transformation, inequality, and inclusive growth in South AfricaThis paper evaluates structural change, inequality dynamics, and industrial policy in South Africa between 1960 and the present day...
Structural transformation Inclusive growth South AfricaBackground Note
COVID-19 and socioeconomic impact in Africa: The case of South AfricaWhat has the government of South Africa done with respect to COVID-19 measures of mitigation and suppression? The first COVID-19 positive case was confirmed on 5 March 2020...
COVID-19 South Africa government action