Past Projects
SADC Trade Development
22 February 2010
An Empirical Assessment of the Impact of Trade Liberalisation on Employment in South Africa
This study seeks to model the effects of trade on employment in South Africa in a Labour Demand framework. The study uses aggregated data, as opposed to a number of studies that have used either factor content or growth accounting…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
17 January 2010
The Impact of SADC Trade on Energy Use
Trade patterns change as a result of the international specialisation of production and the increased integration of world markets. This is especially evident in small open economies such as the countries that make up the SADC region. In 2000, the share…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
17 January 2010
The Impact of Mode IV on Trade in Goods in the SADC Region: The Case of South Africa
Information on the impact of immigration on a host country's trade with particular reference to the African continent and the SADC region remains scant, if indeed it is ever available. This study seeks to fill this gap with an analysis…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
Member countries of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) engaged in a number of bilateral trade liberalisation agreements and initiatives from as way back as the 1950s, the main objective being to increase bilateral trade flows through deeper opening and…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
01 December 2005
Working Paper 1 - 2005: The Market Disciplining Effects of Trade Liberalisation and Regional Import Penetration on Manufacturing In South Africa
Since the mid-1990s, South Africa has made considerable progress in opening ups its trade regime. In 1994 South Africa committed itself to reducing and simplifying its tariff levels and structure in accordance with it offer under the GATT Uruguay Round.…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
01 December 2004
Working Paper 1-2004: A Dynamic Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Model for South Africa: Extending the Static IFPRI Model
Computable general equilibrium (CGE) models are widely used for policy-analysis in many countries. In the past a number of CGE models have been developed for South Africa, and used to assess a broad range of policy issues. However, the perceived…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
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…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
This paper investigates South Africa's saving-investment behaviour between 1962 and 2001. The results show that due to the unlimited nature of net capital inflows (foreign debt) from 1962 to 1976, saving and investment were not bound by a long-run solvency…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
01 December 2003
Trade Policy Development in a Coherent Macroeconomic Framework
The overriding objectives of the Nepad programme are economic growth and sustainable development. If it is accepted that trade contributes positively to these objectives, the next question that arises is how to improve African countries' export performance. The ability to…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
01 December 2003
Armington Elasticities for South Africa: Long- and Short-Run Industry Level Estimates
In economics, the effects of tariff protection and tariff reform remain a contentious, fervently debated issue.1 In South Africa, decades of high tariff protection, of which domestic manufacturing sectors primarily benefited, are being followed by a period of substantial tariff…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
As international tariffs are being reduced increased attention is being given to the role of non-tariff measures in impeding trade flows. The working definition of NTMs used in this report is 'government measures other than tariffs that restrict trade flows'.…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
15 June 2003
Bilateral Trade Between South Africa and Brazil
In this short report we examine South African trade with Brazil for decade up to 2001. First we look at the absolute values, trends, patterns at the aggregate level and somehow disaggregated level of 22 commodities clusters. The aim of…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
15 June 2003
A Development Perspective on EU Trade Policies and their Implications for Central and Eastern European Countries
This paper will begin by outlining the policy framework that informs EU trade policies and will set out a development perspective that informs the evaluation of EU trade policies. The paper then discusses the issue of adjustment in the EU…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
15 June 2003
An Analysis of Intra-SADC Trade
The SADC Free Trade Agreement (FTA) came into effect recently. Periodic examination of intra-SADC trade flows is an important element of monitoring the impact of the FTA.
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
Of concern to domestic policy makers is that trade between Finland and South Africa is very much biased in favour of the former country. Set against this backdrop, Trade and Investment South Africa (TISA) of the South African Department of…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
15 June 2003
A Trade Performance Index for South Africa
The Trade Performance Index (TPI) is a tool developed by the International Trade Centre (ITC) for assessing and monitoring the multi-faceted dimensions of export performance and competitiveness of countries and their principal export sectors. At present, the TPI covers 184…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
The US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which was promulgated in October 2000, claims to “move Africans from poverty to prosperity by increasing their economic opportunities.” The Act extends Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) status for qualifying African countries…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
01 December 2001
Reform and Opportunity: The Changing Role and Patterns of Trade in South Africa and SADC
In this paper, we examine the changing role of trade in South Africa and SADC from different vantage points. We first review progress in liberalizing South Africa's trade regime, and conclude that, while signs of progress are clear, the levels…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
15 June 2001
Notes on Welfare Losses of Tariffs and Tariff Protection: A Partial Equilibrium Application to South African Data
Almost immediately after the first democratic election, South African policy makers embraced the policy of trade liberalisation (see Holden 2000). To many observers, the offer made by South Africa to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has been very generous. Various…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
It is generally acknowledged that there is no sufficient, exhaustive and elaborate empirical examination of the quantitative impact of policies pertaining to import demand and economic growth in South Africa. In order to arrive at conclusive, sagacious and applicable policies…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
The paper aimed to establish the changes that had occurred in the institutional structures governing trade policy in South Africa during the period 1990-1998. It also examined the forces that had influenced the application of tariff policy by the major…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
15 June 2000
FTAs with India and Brazil: An Initial Analysis
The purpose of this report is to launch a debate on the proposed free trade agreements (FTAs) with Brazil and India by providing some preliminary analysis. Two different but complementary research methodologies have been employed, each of which provides a…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
01 January 2000
A Critical Analysis of the Regional Trade Model for South Africa (RTMSA): Implications for Future Research
The studies of Evans (1996, 1997a,b) appear to be the most analytically ambitious attempts to address, empirically, the question of the economic desirability of a southern African free trade area (FTA). Evans (1996) is apparently the only serious study available…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
This paper describes formal employment trends in the South African economy since 1970, through using both survey and time-series data. In addition, the study tries to understand the forces that have shaped these employment trends. The descriptive statistics reveal that…
Published in
SADC Trade Development
Topic:
15 June 1999
Competitiveness, International Trade and Finance in a Mineral-Rich Economy: The Case of South Africa
The aim of this paper is to consider the relationship between competitiveness, international trade and financial factors in the South African economy. The term ‘competitiveness’ is used here in two closely related, but distinctly different, senses. One of these refers…
Published in
SADC Trade Development