The informal economy in South Africa offers an alternative and often long-term means of survival to thousands of people who cannot find formal employment. However, it is small relative to that in other developing countries and under-researched. The…
South African work on firm-level data has been limited by a lack of access to large datasets that track firms over time. This paper overcomes this constraint by analysing a new dataset of the population of manufacturing firms that are matched to…
In the comparative literature on regional (economic) integration processes, the ASEAN experience is often contrasted with the European (EU) integration process. More than any other integration process in the world, the ASEAN case is singled out as a…
The significance of the paper is twofold. Firstly, it adds to the small but growing body of literature focusing on the decomposition of South Africa’s export growth. Secondly, it identifies the determinants of the intensive and extensive margins of…
Research has shown that adequate infrastructure is essential for an increase in productivity and sustained economic growth. The growth-enhancing effect that public spending has on production in private firms implies that public capital inputs should…
Upon South Africa’s transition to democracy in 1994, there were great hopes for an economic revival in the country, underpinned by supportive economic policies that prioritised job creation and the elimination of longstanding poverty and inequality…
Despite many factors weighing in South Africa’s favour on the agricultural front, including having official ‘food secure’ status, millions of households have insufficient access to nutritionally safe food. This is largely a function of poverty,…
The development of services sectors in least-developed countries (LDCs) and low-income countries (LICs) has the potential to generate economic growth, raise incomes and reduce poverty rates. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a key role…
This paper aims to identify Thailand’s realistic export opportunities (REOs) in the ASEAN+3 countries (i.e. ASEAN, Greater China, Japan and South Korea), which together constitute an economically dynamic region and a strategic export destination for…
This paper attempts to shed new light on the prospects of strengthening economic integration in South-East Asia by performing a quantitative assessment of the potential for extending intra-regional trade. It is evident that ASEAN's export space…