Research

The low rail market share for general freight and passenger transport along South Africa’s long corridors negatively impacts the cost of logistics, restricts economic growth, and underutilizes rail capacity. Opportunities exist to technically improve capacity...

This paper reviews South Africa’s monetary policy since 2007 and makes recommendations towards improving the inflation-targeting framework currently in place. Following a surge in inflation into double digits in 2007/08, the South African Reserve Bank...

The bulk of the South African freight rail network comprises a state-owned, vertically integrated operator, which essentially does not allow freight rail competitors to access its network (some passenger access arrangements are in place). Going...

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...

This study analyses the performance of macroeconomic policy in South Africa in 2007–2020 and outlines challenges for policy in the coming decade. After remarkable economic growth in 1997–07, South Africa’s progress slowed dramatically in 2009...

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...

This study analyses the potential impact of conservation agriculture (CA) on maize production and food security under drought conditions in southern Africa. The study combines biophysical and socio-economic approaches. The biophysical approach is used to...

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and the response by the South African government was consistent with global trends and prompted unprecedented public procurement. Government responses included the application of a staged lockdown as well...

The primary function of public procurement is procuring goods, services and infrastructure on the best possible terms. The secondary function of government procurement is to promote broader social, economic, and environmental outcomes in line with...

We update Kreuser and Newman’s (2018) total factor productivity estimates for the South African manufacturing sector using administrative data from 2009–17. We use standard implementations of the Ackerberg et al. (2015) and Wooldridge (2009) productivity...

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...

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...