Objective: This study provides information regarding trends in alcohol consumption at the household level in South Africa using two datasets. These two datasets, from 1995 and 2000, are the basis of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in South Africa, although they contain information on alcoholic...

Estimates of participation or expenditure elasticities depend upon the assumptions made regarding the observation of zero expenditure at the household level. This research examines two single-hurdle models across two commodities for which nearly two-thirds of the observations are zero. The...

In order to address practical questions in credit portfolio management it is necessary to link the cyclical or systematic components of firm credit risk with the firm’s own idiosyncratic credit risk as well as the systematic credit risk component of every other exposure in the portfolio. This...

Estimates of participation or expenditure elasticities depend upon the assumptions made regarding the observation of zero expenditure at the household level. This research examines two single-hurdle models across two commodities for which nearly two-thirds of the observations are zero. The...

Recent empirical evidence on the direct link of inflation targeting and inflation volatility is at best mixed. However, comparing inflation volatility across alternative monetary policy regimes within a country based on conventional ways, used in previous studies, begs the question. The question...

In developing countries, where health insurance is not a commonly purchased nancial instrument, recent debates have revolved around extending health insurance coverage to a wider range of the population, primarily via compulsory insurance schemes. However, these debates rarely consider the...

South Africa is an open economy, and, therefore, it is affected by what happens in foreign markets. Exports and export growth are cornerstones of South African economic development policy. One of the implications of an export-orientated economy is that many of its SMME manufacturers must, of...

This paper considers household expenditure patterns through the estimation of parametric share estimates. The parameters from these expenditure share estimates are then used to simulate the underlying income transfer (compensating variation) that would be required to offset price increases for...

This paper explores the degree to which imperfect information in the labour market regarding worker quality is likely to impact employment opportunities, as well as the wages associated with those opportunities. The primary purpose of this paper is to provide preliminary empirical evidence that...