Enterprise development for job creation and growth

South Africa’s potential growth has fallen over the last 20 years for reasons that are not deeply understood. The work stream on Enterprise development for job creation and growth aims to increase the competitiveness, growth, and job creation of South Africa’s private sector through explorations of newly available firm-level data. This research will examine the many factors which influence firms’ performances, including value chains, whether larger businesses succeed at the expense of smaller businesses, infrastructure, resource availability, research and development, and credit access among many others, but with special attention to how these factors impact job creation and can be impacted by the policy environment.

While continuing to develop the tax administrative database, work stream 1 will also build capacity within South African institutions in the management and use of large micro-datasets for microeconomic research. Specifically, several research papers will be commissioned that rely on large microeconomic datasets to deepen knowledge in this important area, including papers on domestic and global value chains, market power, trade, multinationals, the knowledge economy, and the service sector.

Vacancies
by SA-TIED
Closing date: 14 November 2022 at 23:59 (GMT +2) Station: National Treasury, Pretoria, South Africa UNU-WIDER is looking for an outstanding individual with strong data skills, commitment and potential to contribute to the SA-TIED programme...
October 2022
Enterprise development
Public revenue
Labour market and inequality
Working paper
Ewa Karwowski, Hanna Szymborska, Keagile Lesame, and Tlhologelo Thoka
Globally, corporate cash holdings have risen since the 1980s. In South Africa, some commentators have accused corporations of engaging in an ‘investment strike’, while others see corporate liquidity as a precaution against systemic uncertainty. We...
August 2022
Enterprise development
Working paper
Michael Kilumelume, Bruno Morando, Carol Newman, and John Rand
Extractive industries form an important part of the economy for many developing countries, but their impact on growth and welfare remains understudied. With global efforts to transition to net-zero carbon emissions in the coming decades...
February 2022
Enterprise development
Report
SA-TIED
This report is a summary of the SA-TIED programme’s major research contributions to the policy environment. These contributions are not policy proposals, but are meant to inform the policymaking process and fill important gaps in...
January 2022
Enterprise development
Public revenue
Macro-fiscal analysis
Labour market and inequality
Climate and energy
Phase 1 regional growth
Working paper
Michael Kilumelume, Bruno Morando, Carol Newman, and John Rand
An often-neglected potential negative consequence of tariffs is the impact they may have on the misallocation of factor inputs. Trade protection can provide space for domestic firms to increase prices and mark-ups, allowing low-productivity firms...
December 2021
Enterprise development
Working paper
Amina Ebrahim, C. Friedrich Kreuser, and Michael Kilumelume
This paper presents version 4.0 of the CIT-IRP5 firm-level panel dataset. Version 4.0 is the latest edition of the firm-level component of the combined administrative data using sources from the South African Revenue Service. We...
December 2021
Enterprise development
Working paper
Brandon Joel Tan
There is a large literature on the minimum wage focused on directly exposed firms and geographies. This paper provides new evidence that the minimum wage has significant spillover effects on firms exposed to the minimum...
June 2021
Enterprise development
Working paper
Isaac Marcelin, Daniel Brink, and Wei Sun
We study the role of trade credit in enhancing the resilience of financially constrained firms from 2010 to 2017. Implicit borrowing in trade finance allows financially constrained firms to bridge the financing gap, expand employment...
May 2021
Enterprise development
Working paper
Caio Torres Mazzi, Gideon Ndubuisi, and Elvis Avenyo
Using the South African Revenue Service and National Treasury firm-level panel data for 2009–17, this paper investigates how global value chain-related trade affects the export performance of manufacturing firms in South Africa. In particular, the...
November 2020
Enterprise development
Working paper
Joshua Budlender and Amina Ebrahim
This paper documents the industry classification variables in the anonymized tax microdata available for research at the National Treasury Secure Data Facility in Pretoria. It discusses how the variables in the data are related to...
August 2020
Enterprise development
Working paper
Aalia Cassim
Attempts to regulate the temporary employment sector have had mixed results internationally. In South Africa, temporary employment was regulated in 2015 through amendments to the Labour Relations Act. This paper uses administrative data to examine...
June 2020
Enterprise development