Working paper
Donations and tax incentives
Fadzayi Chingwere, Matthew Clance, Nicky Nicholls, Aimable Nsabimana, and Eleni Yitbarek
This study examines the impact of tax incentives on charitable donations within South Africa, with a focus on donations declared on individuals’ tax returns. Leveraging the universe of South African tax administrative data spanning over...
December 2024
Public revenue
Working paper
The sustainability of South African fiscal policy
Philippe Burger
The public-debt-to-GDP ratio in South Africa increased from 26 per cent in the 2008/09 fiscal year to 73.9 per cent in 2023/24, raising fears that fiscal policy is not sustainable. This raises the question: did...
September 2024
Macro-fiscal analysis
Working paper
Income inequality in South Africa: Evidence from individual-level administrative tax data
Chandré Jacobs, Amina Ebrahim, Murray Leibbrandt, Jukka Pirttilä, and Marlies Piek
We use individual-level tax administrative data to estimate personal income inequality among the tax-compliant population in South Africa over the period 2011–21. Our results indicate that inequality of this population rose slightly over the period...
SEPTEMBER 2024
Labour market and inequality
Working paper
Wait no more: how the administration of VAT refunds impacts firm behaviour
Giacomo Brusco, Marlies Piek, and Tejaswi Velayudhan
Refunds are an essential feature of well-functioning VAT systems and take up a sizeable portion of government spending. In South Africa, refunds amount to 50 per cent of gross VAT collection, representing a substantial transfer...
SEPTEMBER 2024
Public revenue
Working paper
Economic geography determinants of spatial wage disparities in South Africa
Sanduku Mulumba, Lawrence Edwards and David Fadiran
In this paper, we use the new economic geography (NEG) framework to estimate the extent to which spatial wage disparities in the South African manufacturing sector are an outcome of economic forces such as market...
August 2024
Labour market and inequality
Working paper
A review of energy systems and economic modelling tools capable of estimating the finance needs and responses relevant to energy, water, and food security in South Africa in the face of climate change
Julia Tatham, Bruno Merven, and Harro von Blottnitz
This paper reviews the extent of hybrid energy- and climate-economy modelling within South Africa. Only a small number of hybrid climate-economy models exist, with SATIMGE being the most developed model of this type used for...
May 2024
Climate and energy
Working paper
Surviving in the dark: the mortality effects of reducing rolling blackouts
Joshua Budlender
South Africa frequently experiences rolling blackouts (‘load shedding’) due to shortfallsin electricity generation. This is a common problem across the developing world, and yet thedevelopmental impacts of insufficient and unstable electricity supply, and the benefits...
JULY 2024
Macro-fiscal analysis
Working paper
Taxing top incomes in the emerging world
Christopher Axelson, Antonia Hohmann, Jukka Pirttilä, Roxanne Raabe, and Nadine Riedel
Rising levels of income inequality and tight government budgets have spurred discussions in many developing nations about how to appropriately tax high-income earners. In this paper, we study taxpayer responses to an increase in the...
June 2024
Public revenue
Working paper
Market power and merger control in South Africa
C. Friedrich Kreuser, Michael Kilumelume, and Rulof P. Burger
We estimate structural, materials, and labour markups for the South African economy at the three-digit industry level for 2012–19. The fall in structural labour and materials markups found for the numerical majority of industries are...
MAY 2024
Enterprise development
Working paper
Government size and risk premium
Abhishek Kumar and Sushanta Mallick
Given the rise in the government debt level in recent times, this paper aims to examine the effect of an increase in government size on risk premium and its transmission in the economy. We jointly...
APRIL 2024
Macro-fiscal analysis