This paper contributes to the debate over the effect of trade on the demand for labour in the manufacturing sector in South Africa. Previous work in the area has decomposed employment to find the likely contribution of trade effects, has investigated the correlation between employment and trade, and has used…

This paper uses two firm level surveys, the National Enterprise (NE) survey and the World Bank and Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council (GJMC) co-ordinated survey, to explore the implications of globalisation on employment in South Africa. We use the firm surveys to analyse the impact of trade liberalisation on the level…

This paper provides an overview of the interconnectedness between trade, competition and investment in SADC, and explores the competition implications emerging therefrom. From a review of existing competition policy in SADC, key national and regional competition challenges are examined, with a view to suggesting options for regional collaboration to address…

A major argument for trade liberalisation has been that openness increases efficiency, ensures greater market access to goods and employment, and these factors in due course raise growth rates and reduce poverty. However, it is also recognized that distribution of trade benefits among trading partners may be skewed, and that…

The paper extends simple trade analysis techniques used to evaluate barriers to goods trade to identify opportunities and barriers to South African trade in services. Using available services trade data from four of South Africa's major trading partners, under-traded service imports are identified and compared to trade restrictions listed in…

This paper examines the response of South African manufacturing production to changes in prices and exchange rates. A restricted profit function is used to model the behaviour of the manufacturing sector, as well as a number of manufacturing sub-sectors, and of the agricultural and coal mining sectors. Labour and intermediate…

The South African architectural, construction and engineering services industries have notable competitive advantages, particularly in providing basic infrastructure and particularly on the African continent. However, the sector has been in decline for over two decades, threatening the survival of those advantages. Exporters face many hurdles, ranging from corruption in Africa…

The major objective of this study is to evaluate the role of exchange rate policy in determining trade flows with respect to Southern African economies. The study provides a structural analysis to the empirical strength of the influence of exchange rate movements on trade flows for small low-income countries on…

Economic empowerment reflects the challenges, the changes and the strategies of a large part of the South African population to have entry into industries, business sectors where the ownership and the skills were located in the hands of a few South Africans. The attempts of the private and public sector…

This paper was inspired in the first place as the author observed extraordinary resilience in the domestic real economy in the wake of not only the world recessionary conditions of 2000/1 but also the dramatic slide of the currency towards the end of 2001. As possibly the first hard evidence…

Intra-SADC trade remains very low despite the shift in the focus of the regional body from being driven mainly by political objectives to a position where economic imperatives are accorded greater weight. By calculating the revealed comparative advantage indices for the regional countries, results from this paper suggest that relative…

This paper is essentially a scoping exercise to explore the type of issues that might arise for South Africa in WTO energy service negotiations. The background to the current round of negotiations in energy services is explained, including the uncertainties that remain in classifying energy services. The extent and diversity…

SADC Member States have chosen regional integration as part of their strategy for global participation. While not a first best strategy, regionalism can complement more general trade and investment liberalization. Unfortunately the SADC Trade Protocol is seriously flawed. Back-loaded and confusingly differentiated tariff reduction schedules are well-known problems. Less clearly…

The paper reports on the construction and testing of a Standard International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) computable general equilibrium model for South Africa. A 1998 social accounting matrix (SAM) for South Africa is compiled using national accounts information and recently released supply-use tables. By updating to a recent year,…

This paper assesses the economy-wide impact of implementing and financing a universal or basic income grant (BIG) in South Africa. The various financing scenarios suggested by the proponents of the grant are presented, and these are compared using an applied general equilibrium model for the South African economy. The results…

Most of the large tariff reductions achieved in multilateral trade negotiations have involved the use of tariff-cutting formulas, such as the "Swiss" formula. But the wide variations in initial tariff rates may create a demand for new approaches in the Doha Development Agenda. This paper surveys some options and examines…

The small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in South Africa has been the focus of attention since the first democratic elections in 1994. Not only does the sector offer the opportunity to enhance entrepreneurship amongst previously disadvantaged communities in South Africa, but it is also seen as one that has…

The Edge Institute  Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are at the centre of several current policy debates, both nationally and internationally, ranging from music piracy and geographical indications in wine labelling to generic alternatives for patented pharmaceuticals. In order to engage in these debates, a thorough understanding of the pros and…

This paper discusses changes in the regulation of citrus exports from South Africa. It traces the changes from state regulation of the citrus chain to very recent forms of private regulation in the context of highly competitive global markets. The paper argues that while these forms of private regulation are…