Department of Economics

Food security, wheat production and policy in South Africa : reflections on food sustainability and challenges for a market economy

De Wet, Francois; Liebenberg, Ian (AOSIS, 2018)

The traditional concept of security has broadened over the past decades. Food security in South Africa is an imperative for human and non-human survival. In the contemporary political economy, there is a real nexus between ...

Measuring quality gaps in TB screening in South Africa using standardised patient analysis

Christian, Carmen S.; Gerdtham, Ulf-G.; Hompashe, Dumisani; Smith, Anja; Burger, Ronelle (MDPI, 2018)

This is the first multi-district Standardised Patient (SP) study in South Africa. It measures the quality of TB screening at primary healthcare (PHC) facilities. We hypothesise that TB screening protocols and best practices ...

South Africa’s hospital sector : old divisions and new developments

Ranchod, Shivani; Adams, Cheryl; Burger, Ronelle; Carvounes, Angeliki; Dreyer, Kathryn; Smith, Anja; Stewart, Jacqui; Van Biljon, Chloe (Health Systems Trust, 2017)

The hospital sector in South Africa mirrors deep inequalities in the country as a whole. The private, for-profit hospital sector is well resourced and caters to a population that tends to be wealthier, urban and more likely ...

Human resources for health planning and national health insurance : the urgency and the opportunity

Smith, Anja; Ranchod, Shivani; Strugnell, Dave; Wishnia, Jodi (Health Systems Trust, 2018)

The implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI) amplifies the urgent need for coordinated, comprehensive health workforce planning in South Africa. Planning for and estimating the cost of adequate human resources for ...

Employment policy effects on firm dynamics : evidence from the South African labour market

Flowerday, Wayde Thomas (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: As South African policymakers strive to tackle low economic growth, poverty, unemployment, and inequality, the ability to unpack the effects of policy at a firm-level is key to the reformulation of more ...

Migration and urbanisation in South Africa and Namibia : an investigation of the intersection between location, deprivation and opportunity in a developing country context

Moses, Eldridge Granville (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa and Namibia are two of the most unequal countries in the world. These inequalities have very strong and persistent racial and geographic dimensions due to the legacy of colonial and apartheid ...

Foreign and domestic private investments in developing economies : cases in sub-Saharan Africa

Wabiga, Paul (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The role of foreign-owned investments in the economic transformation of host economies cannot be overstated. Foreign-owned investments are associated with higher levels of employment; higher mean wages; ...

Choosing investment solutions for South African long-term investors with prospect theory-type risk preferences

Mazwai, Osagyefo (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT : This thesis investigates the optimal choice of investment style for a representative long term South African investor assuming a Prospect Theory-type utility functions. The relative performance of ...

Effects of behavioural and psychological attributes on labour market outcomes in an uncertain economic environment

Matsuro, Leon (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The power of human capital variables in predicting an individual’s economic success is well documented theoretically and empirically. However, recently, economists have acknowledged that even with a rich ...

A microeconomic model of banking with a strategically determined interbank market

Du Rand, Gideon Petrus (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT : This dissertation generalizes the seminal model of financial contagion by Allen and Gale (2000) to allow an aggregate liquidity demand shock to occur with positive probability. A shock with positive ...

Essays on macroprudential policy and financial stability : the case of South Africa

Molise, Thabang Ernest (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT : This thesis contributes to the literature on macroprudential policies for the South African economy. The main goal of the thesis is to enhance our understanding on how macroprudential policies work, ...

Land rights in sub-Saharan Africa : measuring impact with satellite images, machine learning and citizen science

Chingozha, Tawanda (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The thesis employs satellite imagery to measure the impacts of land rights- in data-scarce sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). SSA governments are politically and financially constrained to provide objective and ...

Making under-resourced health systems work for vulnerable women and children : antenatal care in Malawi

Mchenga, Martina (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT : This thesis investigates the implementation barriers and adoption of maternal health care interventions in Malawi, a sub-Saharan African country with one of the highest maternal mortality rates and most ...

Black living standards in South Africa before democracy : new evidence from height

Mpeta, Bokang; Fourie, Johan; Inwood, Kris (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2018)

Very little income or wage data were systematically recorded about the living standards of South Africa’s black majority during much of the 20th century. We used four data sets to provide an alternative measure of living ...

Essays on fiscal policy in South Africa

Kemp, Johannes Hermanus (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch Universit, 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT : This study is primarily motivated by the renewed interest in the effects of fiscal policy on general macroeconomic outcomes and macroeconomic stability since the 2008/09 Global Financial Crisis. In the ...

A forward guidance indicator for the South African Reserve Bank : implementing a text analysis algorithm

Erasmus, Ruan (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12)

ENGLISH SUMMARY : The growing prevalence of forward guidance, in addition to central banks' efforts to improve and structure its use, has spawned growing interest among market participants and academics. Several scholars ...

Inflation expectations in South Africa : non-rational, intertemporal and idiosyncratic heterogeneity represented by a term structure approach

Crowther-Ehlers, Nelene (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12)

ENGLISH SUMMARY : A key factor in the inflation-targeting regime is the psychological process by which decision makers form their expectations of future inflation. Economic models often assume that on aggregate, decision ...