Publications (143)

The growth of firms has been shown to have a meaningful impact on the health of firms and the economy in general. As the body of literature dedicated to understanding high-growth firms has expanded, an interest in the persistence of growth has become even more relevant. This is because...

In this paper, I show that occupations in South Africa are segregated and stratified not only by race, but also by gender. While some women (mostly black and Coloured) overwhelmingly fill low-paying jobs, others (mostly white and Indian/Asian but also Coloured) tend to fill higher-paying...

Public debate on the temporary employment services, or labour broker, sector in South Africa has focused on temporary workers’ wages and benefits. Empirical research is limited: temporary employment services cannot be accurately identified in recent labour force surveys. In 2015, South...

This paper investigates whether a Taylor rule accurately describes the South African Reserve Bank’s reaction function in setting interest rates using quarterly data, covering the period since inflation targeting was formally adopted in 2000. The classic Taylor rule is modified to determine...

Improvements in productivity are necessary to effectively increase economic growth in the long term. The literature emphasizes a positive correlation between firm-level innovation and productivity gains. It is unsurprising, then, that policy makers and researchers widely acknowledge that...

In this paper we consider four factors that shaped the development of migration policy intended to protect the rights of vulnerable migrant women. They are: the role players in the policy change process, the debates that shaped the policy change, the role that research played and the political...

Since the start of sharp electricity tariff increases in 2008, South African household demand for electricity has not been significantly affected. However, the combination of economic realities and ongoing electricity tariff increases will eventually compel households to reduce their electricity...

While much research has been done on the economic impacts of load-shedding in South Africa, fewer studies have focused on the effects of the rapidly rising electricity tariffs. The issue of tariff increases has now become even more critical, with technological developments making it easier and...

We use four novel, cross-country comparable tax-benefit microsimulation models for Ecuador, Ghana, Tanzania, and South Africa to evaluate ex ante the expansion of a universal old-age pension in a static setting. Universal pensions would significantly reduce poverty and inequality in settings in...