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15 June 2000
South Africa's International Cost Competitiveness
The purpose of this paper is to assess South Africa’s international price and cost competitiveness, particularly with regard to labor costs, and to examine the quantitative relationships between South African cost competitiveness and tradeperformance. South African export and investment performance…
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics
15 June 2000
Failing or Not Aiming to Grow? Manufacturing SMMEs and their Contribution to Employment Growth in South Africa
South Africa’s recent integration into the world economy provokes the question about its potential for building competitive advantage and prosperity at the local level in the context of an increasingly globalised economy. The experience of prospering localities in industrialised countries,…
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics
15 June 2000
Trade In Transport Services: South Africa And The General Agreement On Trade In Services
This document has been prepared for the Trade and Industrial Policy Secretariat (TIPS) in light of the imperative for South Africa to prepare its negotiating mandate at the discussions around the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in…
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics
The aim of this paper is to explore some of the major differences in the ways in which governments influence the process of skill formation. In particular, we focus on the ways in which governments use the market as a…
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics
15 June 2000
Agricultural Employment Crisis in South Africa
Agricultural employment in South Africa's commercial farming sector is declining at an alarming rate. During the 11 year period from 1988 to 1998, for example, the commercial farm sector shed a staggering 140 000 regular jobs, a decline of roughly 20%. Moreover, there is a trend away from employment of…
- Year 2000
- Author(s) Tracey Simbi; Michael Aliber
A narrow unemployment rate of 21.2% and a broad unemployment rate of 36% in 1997 in South Africa indicate a substantial number of working age people who did not work in the last seven days but would accept a job…
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics
15 June 2000
Production and Technology Changes, Restructuring, and Employment in the Plastics Sector
The paper utilises data from a survey of plastics firms and six firm case studies to examine the relationships between production and technology changes, and employment. The analysis examines associations between different factors influencing firms in making such changes and firm performance. These factors include trade liberalisation and the export…
- Year 2000
- Author(s) Chris Malikane; Simon Roberts
15 June 2001
Towards a Workable Rural Development Strategy
The paper puts forward a workable rural development strategy. It shows on which principles, which historical realities and which statistical facts such a strategy should be based. It looks at what the government is doing to promote rural development and…
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics
01 January 2001
A Future for Labour in the Global Economy
From the standpoint of labor around the world the problem with globalization is not that it lowers market-determined wages and reduces employment - it is as likely to do the opposite, and which it does will vary from country to…
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics
15 June 2001
The Role of the Small and Medium Enterprise Sector in Latin America: Implications for South Africa
The current economic setting in most Latin American countries suggests that if the small and medium enterprise sector does not perform well during the next couple of decades, overall economic performance will also be unsatisfactory, especially in the areas of…
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics
The reform of the financial sector has been an important component of the structural adjustment programmes pursued by developing countries, whereby reform entails reducing government involvement, freeing up financial markets, and strengtheningfinancial institutions. In Southern Africa, however, the financial systems…
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics
A major policy issue for many developing countries is to foster further integration into the world economy. This note discusses the role competition policy can play in the context of efforts to promote the restructuring the economy, focusing in particular on the relationship with industrial and trade policy and on…
- Year 2000
- Author(s) Bernard Hoekman
Published in
Centre for Real Economy Study (Crest)
Published in
Centre for Real Economy Study (Crest)
15 June 2002
The Determinants of Regulatory Effectiveness in Liberalised Markets: Developing Country Experiences
Published in
Centre for Real Economy Study (Crest)
15 June 2002
Information Technology and Producer Services - A Source of Economic Development: The South African Case
This paper discusses one aspect of the somewhat discredited "new economy" namely the impact of information and communication technologies on the growth in volume and diversity of producer services. It provides an analysis of data on developments within transport, communications,…
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics
01 December 2001
The SADC Textile and Garment Industries: Constraints & Opportunities. Myopia or Global Vision?
This report is the culmination of a study of the textile and garment industries in the member states of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). Based on fieldwork mostly done between October 2000 and April 2001, the project produced country…
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics
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
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics
The banking sector in South Africa is highly concentrated. When there is high concentration, it is necessary to examine the effects on efficiency and prices. In this paper, we discuss the fact that there are various types of efficiency in…
Published in
Trade & Growth Dynamics