Rereading D Hobart Houghton’s The South African Economy (1967) and Economic Development1865-1965 (1971) brings to mind the stark theoretical and empirical differences between his account of thirty years ago and current views of economic growth. Hobart Houghton wrote within the optimistic...

The determinants of educational attainment are considered within Becker’s analysis of the supply and demand for human capital at the individual level. The following sources of variation are considered: type of settlement, assortative mating, household demography, reasons for school drop...

Does Fertilizing Permanent Grass Pastures Pay?

Background: HIV counselling and testing (HCT) is a critical component of HIV prevention and treatment efforts. Between April 2010 and June 2011 South Africa ran an ambitious, multi-sector, campaign aiming to test 15 million people nationwide. We assessed the extent to which this campaign reached...

Little credible evidence exists on the effect of material resources on school quality in developing countries. This paper studies the impact of non-personnel funding on educational outcomes exploiting the peculiar way in which these resources are allocated in South Africa. Government funding...

This paper presents a survey experiment in South Africa that focuses on the role of mobilization for demand for redistribution. Previous literature has found that providing information on inequality raises concerns about inequality but need not lead to a change in tax preferences. We argue that...

We study the relationship between country of origin and employment prospects for immigrants to South Africa, an emerging host country characterized by high levels of unemployment, labour market imperfections and a scarcity of skills. Using the 2001 South African census, we estimate the...

Political science literature on clientelism has tended to focus primarily on the role of parties and brokers, leaving the demand side of clientelism - the choices of potential clients - relatively unexplored. This paper proposes a formal framework sheding light on the demand side of clientelism....

Using South African census data, we show that immigrants with tertiary education from different origin country groups differ in their likelihood of obtaining a skilled job. Immigrants from advanced country groups outperform native internal migrants, while those from many African country groups...