There are fundamental links between academic treatments of 'economic development' and of the popular policy discourse of 'competitiveness'. Productivity-focused analyses of competitiveness are inherently related to market-centric analyses of development that have economic growth as their objective. However, a consensus is emerging on the need for broader conceptions of economic…

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether a relationship between export volumes and exchange rate volatility exists as suggested in the ASGISA document. It goes about this by first investigating the theoretical channels that predict the relationship between export volumes and exchange rate volatility. The theoretical prediction though,…

In this paper we analyze the relationships between exchange rates, inflation and competitiveness. We show that over the 1994-2006 sample period real exchange rate depreciations did not improve the trade balance and therefore had no positive effect on growth. One reason is that SA exports are priced to market (PTM…

Formal inflation targeting has been adopted as the monetary policy framework in South Africa since February 2000. Prior to that (since about 1990), the South African Reserve Bank has pursued implicit inflation targeting with no officially announced inflation target. Official inflation targeting frameworks are based on the premise that inflation…

To better understand why some currencies are more volatile than others, this paper considers the cross-country determinants of exchange rate volatility for a set of middle-income countries. Overall, the paper finds that higher levels of reserves reduce volatility, and it is estimated that an appropriate level of reserves is approximately…

The key objective of this paper is to construct a commodity export price series for South Africa (incorporating a wider range of commodities than those considered in the empirical literature on South Africa to date) and to determine its influence on real exchange rate movements in South Africa. Existing models…

The ASGISA document identifies several binding constraints preventing South Africa from achieving elevated levels of economic growth (Republic of South Africa, 2006). This paper takes an evolutionary perspective to consider whether the proposed policy interventions will address what is, arguably, a fundamental growth constraint: the current inability of the economic…

The adverse micro- and macroeconomic impacts of the HIV and AIDS epidemic is relatively well documented. With the advent of the free provision of antiretroviral treatment (ART) in the public sector, the focus in research on the economics of HIV and AIDS has shifted toward determining how ART may ameliorate…

One of the most pervasive trends in contemporary South African business is the substitution of alternative work forms for full-time, permanent employment. Part-time work and external contracting are used extensively by firms, ostensibly to adjust to altering work conditions. However, relatively little is understood about the process, context and contingencies…

The South African government has begun to speed up the delivery of infrastructure. This policy shift is in line with its aim to halve poverty and unemployment by 2014, achievable if the economy grows at an average rate of 6 per cent by 2010. The government was able to demonstrate…

The making of a 'new' South Africa has not been without its challenges. After the political miracle of 1994, political actors, policy-makers and academics had to transform repressive and apartheid predatory political machinery into a functional and inclusive and democratised polity. Inebriated by the euphoria of a newly found democracy,…

South Africa has a peculiar industrial structure given its factor endowments: production is capital intensive in sectors and concentrated in capital intensive sectors despite an abundance of unskilled labour. Part of the reason for this phenomenon lies in the development process of South African industry: it grew around the mining…

Industrial Development Zones (IDZs) have been and still are important vehicles used by developing countries to facilitate investments, create jobs and boost exports. The attractiveness of IDZs is characterized primarily by their association with the adjacent location of an airport or port, good basic infrastructure and duty-free imports of production-related…

The future direction of South African industrial policy is the subject of vigorous and healthy debate. The outcome is important for the country's economic development. This study is an attempt to contribute to these discussions through an overview of and some questions about the economic impacts of South Africa's post…

This document has the objective to determine and to analyze the economic vocation of the ten main cities in Mexico, it with the purpose to identify areas of opportunity for the implementation of policies of industrial clusters as a measure to increase the productivity in the country. From the decade…

South Africa's energy system has been, and still is, one of the key contributing factors to the social and economic development of the nation. By international standards, the South African economy is very energy-intensive, meaning that the country uses a large amount of energy for every rand of economic output.…

The world's interest in forced displacement, including refugees and forced migrants has increased considerably during the last decades as the number of people displaced became a global concern. At the end of 2005, the global figure of "persons of concern" to the United Nations Higher Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) stood…

The paper will explore the assumptions and analysis informing the drafting of a second economy strategy, a process that has been underway under the auspices of The Second Economy Strategy Project: an initiative of the Presidency, based at TIPS. The paper will argue that the concept of 'the second economy'…

Democracy opened the door for transformation in South Africa. In the past decade, various laws, policies and programmes have been implemented with the aim of putting into effect the principles of the new South African Constitution and the Bill of Rights, with the aim of improving the lives of the…

Colonialism and the deleterious impact of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) and now globalisation. Some parts of postcolonial Africa have attempted to set up ministries of economic development. Others have concentrated on attracting on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) whilst some others have early on realised that the state and private capital…