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Upon South Africa's transition to democracy in 1994, there were great hopes for an economic revival in the country, underpinned by supportive economic policies that prioritised job creation and the elimination of longstanding poverty and inequality. Until now, the efficacy of economic policy in bringing about these much-coveted outcomes - particularly improvements on the employment front - has received little attention. This paper ventures into relatively uncharted territory by analysing how political dynamics and accompanying economic policy frameworks have impacted the structure and momentum of employment growth in South Africa over the past two decades. This is achieved by examining the changes in employment and, more specifically, the changes in the cost-neutral change in the capital-to-labour (K/L) ratio from 1995 to 2013. For the purpose of the analysis, a dynamic CGE model of the South African economy is used, with the focus being primarily on changes in the capital and labour markets during the period in question across a range of sectors. Among the results are that there was an increase in capital relative to labour (K/L) during the period, despite there being an increase in the rental price of capital relative to wages (PK/PL). The results suggest that at any given ratio of real wages relative to the rental price of capital, industries would choose a K/L ratio 8.1% higher in 2013 than in 1995. The study offers new insights into what is hampering employment in South Africa, which has been eroding the economy's productive base and prompting serious questions about the country's growth prospects. Clearly, South Africa needs a well-informed and responsive economic policy framework if it is to escape the potentially explosive unemployment crisis in which it has long been mired.

Copyright c [2011] IP Publishing Ltd. Reproduced by permission. ; This paper estimates the economic value of South Africa's longest running national arts festival, the Grahamstown National Arts Festival in the Eastern Cape Province. The Eastern Cape is a middle-income province (6.6% of national GDP), settles 9.6% of the South African population and has a high unemployment rate. A survey was conducted in July 2009, with 450 visitors completing a structured questionnaire at various sampling locations across the festival area. A social accounting matrix (SAM) for the province was used to estimate the economic value of the arts festival to the region's economy (adopting the classical SAMs multiplier approach) with visitor depending data. This research shows that the festival makes a significant contribution to revenue generation as well as to job creation, thereby confirming that investments made by government in arts and culture can address economic objectives. ; http://dx.doi.org/10.5367/te.2011.0049

In august 2006 the south african government announced quotas on the imports of clothing and textile products from china. Three questions arise. What are these expected benefits? what will be the most likely impact of the import quotas on the south african economy? and what are the policy implications? in this paper we answer these questions by using a computable general equilibrium (cge) model. We find that, contrary to the motivations apparently underlying the quota implementation, the macro-economic, sector and household effects are negative and result in greater inequality between poorer and richer households. We refer to modeling results elsewhere in the literature which report results consistent to ours. The policy implications are that the imposition of these quotas could come to be seen as a policy mistake, and that south africa may benefit more from considering a free trade agreement with china.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to estimate the potential economic value of the 2010 Soccer World Cup for South Africa. Problem investigated: The Soccer World Cup (SWC) is regarded as the largest sporting event to be hosted and South Africa is investing billions of Rand in the hosting thereof. Based on this the question that comes to mind is, what is the potential economic value of such an event? Previous research attempts to determine the economic value were limited in their focus on what should be included when economic modelling of events is conducted. Most of these studies were done by consultants on behalf of various government departments and consequently, the results of these attempts are criticised for their over-inflating and overestimations by various other researchers. Methodology: The literature review identified many aspects that need to be taken into account when modelling the economic impact of such an event together with aspects identified in the literature review. Lessons from the 2002 Korea/Japan and 2006 Germany Soccer World Cups were used as premise for our estimations. In this article, Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) modelling is used to estimate the potential economic valueFindings: The results showed that the 2010 Soccer World Cup would in all probability have positive impacts on the economy of the country in terms of GDP growth and employment, with possible negative effects that include higher inflation and net export losse. Value of research: The value of this research lies in the approach that was followed firstly, by introducing lessons learned from previous World Cups as well as aspects not taken into consideration previously in economic modelling and secondly, by using CGE modelling in determining the economic value. Conclusion: The hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup is a major achievement not only for South Africa, but also for the rest of Africa, especially from a marketing point of view. From an economic point of view, this study shows positive results. However, compared to other studies conducted on the 2010 SWC, the findings are more conservative. The latter is supported by the results of a similar study conducted one year after the 2006 Soccer World Cup in Germany supporting the notion that various variables have to be taken into account when economic modelling for hallmark events is done.

In August 2006 the South African government announced quotas on the imports of clothing and textile products from China. Three questions arise. What are these expected benefits? What will be the most likely impact of the import quotas on the South African economy? And what are the policy implications? In this paper we answer these questions by using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. We find that, contrary to the motivations apparently underlying the quota implementation, the macro-economic, sector and household effects are negative and result in greater inequality between poorer and richer households. We refer to modeling results elsewhere in the literature which report results consistent to ours. The policy implications are that the imposition of these quotas could come to be seen as a policy mistake, and that South Africa may benefit more from considering a free trade agreement with China.

In August 2006 the South African government announced quotas on the imports of clothing and textile products from China. Three questions arise. What are these expected benefits? What will be the most likely impact of the import quotas on the South African economy? And what are the policy implications? In this paper we answer these questions by using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. We find that, contrary to the motivations apparently underlying the quota implementation, the macro-economic, sector and household effects are negative and result in greater inequality between poorer and richer households. We refer to modeling results elsewhere in the literature which report results consistent to ours. The policy implications are that the imposition of these quotas could come to be seen as a policy mistake, and that South Africa may benefit more from considering a free trade agreement with China.

The objective of this paper is to analyse the utilisation of production capacity and total under-utilisation in order to identify weak-performing industries across the nine South African provinces. Detecting inefficiencies within the different provinces will help to identify where sound managerial or government intervention is required, which can contribute to the future success of the New Growth Path Framework and the Strategic Integrated Projects. Using a multistage data envelopment analysis model at the subnational level, several categories of production factors are explored: intermediate demand, labour, capital, as well as taxes and subsidies. The results emphasise South Africa's weak infrastructure and the failure to effectively promote stability in managing factor inputs. The results further illustrate that industry scale efficiency for water and electricity are poorest across all provinces, highlighting the current water and energy supply concerns in South Africa and problem areas associated with the National Development Program.

Economic modelling techniques can assist policy makers to understand the effects of policy or external shocks and to make informed decisions about economic development programmes. Economic diversification is a priority of resource-dependent regions such as South Africas North West Province (NWP) in the wake of the 2014 platinum strike. The economy of the NWP is highly specialised and dependent on a few sectors - in particular, mining and quarrying. Both the NWP and the South African economies were adversely affected by a prolonged strike in the platinum sector.This paper sets out to illustrate the effects of industrial cluster formation as a strategy to enhance competitiveness in the NWP and diversify its economy using SAM multiplier analysis. The supported activity of eight of the ten industrial clusters was shown to be greater than the actual activity, indicating that industrial cluster formation will enhance economic activity in the NWP. Of the ten identified clusters for the NWP, four were found to be moderately integrated and to have high upstream effects. Finally, structural change in the NWP economy through industrial cluster formation was observed using economic landscaping. A key finding was that the identified industrial clusters are significant contributors to the structural change of the NWP economic landscape with the promotion of cluster-specific exports. It is recommended that the North West provincial government adopt this strategy with a view to enhancing competitiveness and economic diversification.

Economic modelling techniques can assist policy makers to understand the effects of policy or external shocks and to make informed decisions about economic development programmes. Economic diversification is a priority of resource-dependent regions such as South Africas North West Province (NWP) in the wake of the 2014 platinum strike. The economy of the NWP is highly specialised and dependent on a few sectors - in particular, mining and quarrying. Both the NWP and the South African economies were adversely affected by a prolonged strike in the platinum sector.This paper sets out to illustrate the effects of industrial cluster formation as a strategy to enhance competitiveness in the NWP and diversify its economy using SAM multiplier analysis. The supported activity of eight of the ten industrial clusters was shown to be greater than the actual activity, indicating that industrial cluster formation will enhance economic activity in the NWP. Of the ten identified clusters for the NWP, four were found to be moderately integrated and to have high upstream effects. Finally, structural change in the NWP economy through industrial cluster formation was observed using economic landscaping. A key finding was that the identified industrial clusters are significant contributors to the structural change of the NWP economic landscape with the promotion of cluster-specific exports. It is recommended that the North West provincial government adopt this strategy with a view to enhancing competitiveness and economic diversification.

Economic modelling techniques can assist policy makers to understand the effects of policy or external shocks and to make informed decisions about economic development programmes. Economic diversification is a priority of resource-dependent regions such as South Africas North West Province (NWP) in the wake of the 2014 platinum strike. The economy of the NWP is highly specialised and dependent on a few sectors - in particular, mining and quarrying. Both the NWP and the South African economies were adversely affected by a prolonged strike in the platinum sector.This paper sets out to illustrate the effects of industrial cluster formation as a strategy to enhance competitiveness in the NWP and diversify its economy using SAM multiplier analysis. The supported activity of eight of the ten industrial clusters was shown to be greater than the actual activity, indicating that industrial cluster formation will enhance economic activity in the NWP. Of the ten identified clusters for the NWP, four were found to be moderately integrated and to have high upstream effects. Finally, structural change in the NWP economy through industrial cluster formation was observed using economic landscaping. A key finding was that the identified industrial clusters are significant contributors to the structural change of the NWP economic landscape with the promotion of cluster-specific exports. It is recommended that the North West provincial government adopt this strategy with a view to enhancing competitiveness and economic diversification.