scholarly journals Does Economic Growth Lead Employment in South Africa?

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 336-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Temitope L. A.
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
General Theory ◽  
Null Hypothesis ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Quarterly Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
Democratic Election ◽  
The Government ◽  
Keynes General Theory

This paper adopts the Toda-Yamamoto technique of causality in order to examine the direction of causality between employment and economic growth. This is to investigate whether the increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) translates into increased employment or not and vice versa, in South Africa, using quarterly data from 2000Q1 to 2012Q3. South Africa has been experiencing high and increased growth for the past decade, yet the rate of employment is not significantly high. Meanwhile, the objective of the government, since the first democratic election in 1994, was to increase economic growth along with a reduction in the unemployment rate (BMR, 2011). Although the economy has been experiencing significant success of increased economic growth, it performed poorly in the area of increased employment (BMR, 2011). This study thus seeks to answer the following questions: (1) does it mean that the increase in growth does not translate to the creation of more jobs and (2) is increased economic growth not as a result of increase in employment in South Africa? The results obtained shows that causality does not run from employment to economic growth in South Africa, as the null hypothesis was not rejected at all significant levels. However, Keynes General Theory holds for South Africa, where the empirical result showed that economic growth leads employment. These results support the criticism of ‘jobless growth’ against South Africa (Kumo, 2012). The paper suggests some policy recommendations for the improvement of employment.

The Golf Boom in South Korea: Serving Hegemonic Interests

1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minseok An ◽  
George H. Sage
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Golf Courses ◽  
Farm Land ◽  
The Past ◽  
Social Incentives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Industrial Productivity ◽  
The Government

In the past decade, to help maintain political stability and promote economic growth, South Korea has committed substantial resources to commercialized sports, including golf. A major source of support for building golf courses has come from government leaders and economic and social incentives as well. In the past 4 years the government has given permission to build 135 new golf courses. The official government discourse about the new golf courses is that they are being built in the interest of “sport for all.” But the golf courses overwhelmingly require membership, which is extremely expensive. Despite the enormous power and resources of the dominant groups in Korea, there are elements of opposition. The golf boom has been severely criticized because it removes large amounts of land from agricultural and industrial productivity, contaminates farm land, and pollutes water. It also represents the worst aspects of the social imbalance of wealth.

The Myth of Middle Class Moderation: African Lessons for South Africa

1988 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-48
Author(s):  
Pauline H. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Underlying Assumption ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
The Government

An underlying assumption that ocurs in both conventional wisdom and in many academic analyses of political behavior is the notion that a critical linkage exists between political change and economic performance. The assumption is that economic growth is either a precondition or a correlate of democracy and political stability. Little empirical research has been done to test the validity of this widely held assumption as it applies to multicultural societies. Moreover, in the African environment, the assumption seems to operate only in selected cases or in ways that defy categorization. Jerry Rawlings, for example, said he led his first coup d’etat in Ghana because the government was going to devalue the currency; he led his second coup, in part, because the next government was going to devalue; and, during his own tenure in office, he has presided over a 1000 percent devaluation.

scholarly journals Enhancing rural livelihoods in Tanza-nia : A small-holder farmers’ perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abel Kinyondo ◽  
Joseph Magashi
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Rural Livelihoods ◽  
Sustainable Livelihood ◽  
Extension Services ◽  
The Past ◽  
Small Holder Farmers ◽  
The Government ◽  
Small Holder

Poverty reduction has been a difficult milestone for Tanzania to achieve despite recording remarkable economic growth over the past decade. This is because the attained growth is not inclusive, in that sectors contributing to this growth employ fewer people. Given the fact that agriculture continues to employ the majority of people in Tanzania, efforts to improve livelihoods should necessarily be geared towards transforming the sector. It is in this context that using a sample of 3,000 farmers from 13 regions of Tanzania; this Tanzania, this study set out to examine challenges facing farmers and their respective solutions following the sustainable livelihood framework. Findings show that improving farmers’ livelihoods would entail concerted efforts by the government to avail to farmers, quality and affordable seeds, fertilizer, agricultural infrastructures, subsidies, extension services, markets, information alert, affordable loans, and areas for pastures. This implies that the government needs to allocate enough funds to the agricultural sector if farmers’ needs are to be met. We note, however, that government’s allocation to the sector has alarmingly generally been exhibiting a declining trend for the past four years. It is against this background that we strongly recommend that the government rethinks its position and prioritize the agricultural sector in its budget.

Implementation of the Alberta Water for Life Strategy: strategic partnerships in action

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (10) ◽  
pp. 255-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.E. Berzins ◽  
R. Harrison ◽  
P. Watson
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Life Strategy ◽  
Watershed Planning ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Strategic Partnerships ◽  
Stakeholder Consultation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Planning Policy ◽  
Quality Water ◽  
The Government

Alberta's Water for Life Strategy was introduced in 2003 with three main goals: safe, secure drinking water supply; healthy aquatic ecosystems; and, reliable, quality water supplies for a sustainable economy. The strategy establishes a framework of partnerships within the province that are charged with stakeholder consultation, integrated watershed planning, policy recommendations and implementation of a broad range of initiatives within this diverse prairie ecosystem. The Government of Alberta has established a framework of partnerships charged with implementation of the strategy: the province-wide Alberta Water Council, watershed planning and advisory councils that work on a basin-wide basis and watershed stewardship groups that deliver on-the-ground programs at the local and community level. The authors discuss the mandate(s) of each partnership group, key actions and deliverables. Examples are provided of specific projects undertaken by each partnership and a summary is provided of lessons learned based on the authors' direct experience over the past five years.

Investigating the non-linear Wagner’s hypothesis in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 462-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Temitope Lydia A. Leshoro
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Regression Error ◽  
The Government

Purpose The commonly adopted view of the relationship between government spending and economic growth follows the Keynesian approach, in which government spending is considered to determine economic growth. However, there is another theory, which suggests that economic growth in fact determines government spending. This is Wagner’s hypothesis. The purpose of this paper is to investigate which of the two approaches applies to South Africa, and further observes the level of non-linearity between the two variables. Design/methodology/approach This study was carried out using quarterly time series data from 1980Q1 to 2015Q1. Granger causality technique was used to observe the direction of causality between the two variables, while regression error specification test (RESET) was employed to determine whether the variables exhibit linear or non-linear behaviour. This was followed by observing the threshold band, using two techniques, namely, sample splitting threshold regression and quadratic generalised method of moments. Findings The causality result shows that South Africa follows Wagner’s law, whereby government spending is determined by economic growth, supporting Odhiambo (2015). The RESET result shows that the variables depict a non-linear relationship, thus the government spending economic growth model is non-linear. It was found that if positive economic development is to be achieved, economic growth should preferably be kept within the −1.69 and 3.0 per cent band, and specifically above 1 per cent band. Originality/value The unique contribution of this study is that no previous study has attempted the non-linear government spending-economic growth nexus whether within the Keynesian or Wagner law for South Africa.

scholarly journals Public Spending and Poverty Reduction in Indonesia: The Effects of Economic Growth and Public Spending on Poverty Reduction in Indonesia 2009-2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-56
Author(s):  
Hendrawan Toni Taruno
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
Poverty Rate ◽  
Single Digit ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

Poverty is a complex and multidimensional issue. Over the past four decades, the number of poor in Indonesia has experienced a significant decline, from 40.10 percent in 1976 to 9.82 percent in March 2018. Nevertheless, the disparity of poverty rates between provinces is still quite high. The poverty rate in several provinces in Java Island, for example, is already at the single-digit level, while in Eastern Indonesia, is still more than double-digit level. As it is known, public spending and economic growth are two crucial instruments on poverty reduction programs. This study aims to investigate the role of economic growth and public spending, particularly education, health, and social protection on poverty reduction in Indonesia. By using panel data from 31 provinces during 2009-2018 period, this study used two regression models to analyze the effects of these two variables on poverty reduction, both in urban and rural areas. This study shows that public spending on health and education sectors has a slightly different effect on poverty reduction between urban and rural areas. Convincingly, spending allocation on health and education has had a significant effect to reduce poverty rate in rural areas, while the decline of poverty rates in urban is likely more influenced by spending on health. This study also shows that over the past ten years, economic growth and social protection spending did not have a significant effect on reducing poverty rates. Therefore, in order to reduce poverty more effectively, it would be better for the government to focus its poverty reduction programs on investment in health and education sectors.

scholarly journals A forgotten past is the past that is yet to be

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 60-78
Author(s):  
Sindiso Bhebhe ◽  
Mpho Ngoepe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Natural Death ◽  
The Past ◽  
Working Model ◽  
The Government

South Africa is one of the few countries in Africa that has a running oral history association. In some countries, especially in southern Africa, these oral history associations have arisen and then died a natural death. For example, Oral Traditions Association of Zimbabwe (OTAZI) did not last long. Therefore, it is a positive development for South Africa to have a functioning oral history association. The Oral History Association of South Africa (OHASA) is the brainchild of the government and is mainly funded by the government. It is involved in the coordination and documentation of stories that were silent during the apartheid era. Therefore, with this highly perceived task it is necessary to critically evaluate its successes and failures in meeting the objectives of the National Oral History Programme (NOHP). This paper, through document analysis and purposively selected interviews, critically evaluates the achievements and shortcomings of the OHASA from its inception to present with the aim of proposing a ‘working’ model which involves the setting up of a monitoring and evaluating system. The paper concludes that although OHASA unveiled the muted marginalised voices, it soral history programme demonstrate elitism in critical emancipatory as mostly the stories of the elites are covered. Furthermore, such recorded stories are not accessible as the recordings are stashed in the boxes in archives repositories.

scholarly journals A forgotten past is the past that is yet to be

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 60-78
Author(s):  
Sindiso Bhebhe ◽  
Mpho Ngoepe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Natural Death ◽  
The Past ◽  
Working Model ◽  
The Government

South Africa is one of the few countries in Africa that has a running oral history association. In some countries, especially in southern Africa, these oral history associations have arisen and then died a natural death. For example, Oral Traditions Association of Zimbabwe (OTAZI) did not last long. Therefore, it is a positive development for South Africa to have a functioning oral history association. The Oral History Association of South Africa (OHASA) is the brainchild of the government and is mainly funded by the government. It is involved in the coordination and documentation of stories that were silent during the apartheid era. Therefore, with this highly perceived task it is necessary to critically evaluate its successes and failures in meeting the objectives of the National Oral History Programme (NOHP). This paper, through document analysis and purposively selected interviews, critically evaluates the achievements and shortcomings of the OHASA from its inception to present with the aim of proposing a ‘working’ model which involves the setting up of a monitoring and evaluating system. The paper concludes that although OHASA unveiled the muted marginalised voices, it soral history programme demonstrate elitism in critical emancipatory as mostly the stories of the elites are covered. Furthermore, such recorded stories are not accessible as the recordings are stashed in the boxes in archives repositories.

scholarly journals Property rights, institutional change and development in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Schirmer
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
South African ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Institutional Changes ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Universal System ◽  
The Past ◽  
Shed Light

Orientation: This article examined the link between property rights and development in the context of South Africa. Research purpose: The article sought to unpack the implications of Hernando De Soto’s work and the broader institutional economics literature for the policy challenges that South Africa currently confronts. Motivation for the Study: Hernando De Soto’s call for a property rights system accessible to all has had a limited impact in South Africa even though his arguments linking poverty to limited property rights systems seems highly relevant here. This is a legacy of Apartheid that has not yet been properly tackled. At the same time, South African realities may raise questions about De Soto’s conclusions and his policy recommendations. Research design: The article provided a textual analysis of De Soto’s work and then applied it to an investigation of South African poverty and the policies that have been implemented since 1994. The article also drew on seminal contributions to institutional economics to shed light on the process of institutional change, and then showed how this perspective fits with much of what De Soto has written about transforming property rights systems. Main findings: This article argued that extending property rights to all is vital for development and for overcoming a major legacy of apartheid. However, moving from a restricted to a universal system requires fundamental institutional changes that are difficult to achieve. Contribution: While De Soto has often advocated a top-down, overly simplistic policy approach in the past, this article showed that the necessary changes can only come about via an incremental, bottom-up approach. To this end, it is particularly important to strengthen the accountability and capacity of local government.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Impact of Fiscal Policy on Economic Growth in South Africa: VECM Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 231
Author(s):  
Tshembhani Mackson HLONGWANE ◽  
Itumeleng Pleasure MONGALE ◽  
Lavisa TALA
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Fiscal Policy ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
National Development ◽  
Real Gdp ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Fixed Capital Formation ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Fiscal policy ensures macroeconomic stability as a precondition for growth at the macro level. This study investigates the impact of fiscal policy on economic growth of South Africa from 1960 to 2014 through a Cointegrated Vector Autoregression approach. It seeks to contribute to the existing literature as well as in designing effective fiscal policy programmes which can propel economic performance. Theresults of the long run estimates revealed that government tax revenue has a positive and significant long run influence on economic growth, whereas the government gross fixed capital formation and budget deficit have a negative impact on real GDP. For that reason, the study recommends that some expansionary fiscal policy measures should be strengthened since they play a very important role in the economy so as to meet the government target of the National Development Plan Vision for 2030.

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