Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS) - (Working papers)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/38293
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Item Ownership and inequality: Policy interventions in South Africa and possible ways forward(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), 2022-11) Goga, Sha'ista; Valodia, ImraanThis paper reviews some of the policies that have been introduced to address ownership diversity and broadening ownership. Policies like B-BBEE have gone some way towards doing this but not far enough. Considering ‘softer’ regulations e.g. in the form of incentives, could assist with expanding ownership especially considering new digital economies and informal sector workers.Item Enabling inclusive economic ecosystems in Africa: A role for city governments?(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), 2022-12) Joseph, Stacey-Leigh; Karuri-Sebina, GeciThis paper finds that the local state, and in particular major African cities, have a critical ecosystem role in advancing inclusive economic development and mitigating inequality. It reaches this conclusion by investigating: • What potential exists for African cities to design and implement inclusive local economic development approaches; and • How local actors (local government/municipal, civic, commercial and knowledge actors) can play an active role in positively influencing production and socio-economic equality, including through their leveraging of new technologies.Item Towards a Tracking System to Enforce Competition Law in the southern and east African Region(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), 2022-11) Manjengwa, Earnest; Padayachie, Karissa Moothoo; Nsomba, Grace; Tshabalala, Ntombifuthi; Vilakazi, ThandoThe paper explores the role of market power in exacerbating inequality by looking at the effects of competition on income and wealth distribution. It argues that the conceptual framework, proposed in the paper, can be used to better understand market power and inequality in various African countries in order to develop appropriate responses.Item Reimagining the Global Economy: Alternative Visions for an Equitable and Sustainable Post-Covid-19 Economic Recovery(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), 2022-07) Mhlana, SiviweItem Spending choices in Budget 2022(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), 2022-07) Sachs, Michael; Ewinyu, Arabo K.; Shedi, OlwethuThis paper offers an independent appraisal of expenditure choices implied by the budget 2022 numbers by presenting National Treasury budget data in a form that is accessible and policy-relevant. The analysis may not be uncontroversial or “neutral” but is balanced and grounded in evidence. The report’s focus is on spending allocated through the national budget. Other elements of public spending (such as the state-owned companies, the budgets of metropolitan municipalities and spending financed by rates, levies or user charges) are mentioned where relevant. Tax policy is dealt with in passing but future reports aim to tackle the revenue side of the budget directly. After discussing the fiscal context for expenditure choices, the report analyses the aggregate resource allocation and choices implied by the budget estimates and then considers expenditure trends in each major policy area: healthcare, education, social protection, criminal justice and defence, economic policy and community development.Item Public services, government employment and the budget(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), 2022-10) Sachs, Michael; Ewinyu, Arabo K.; Shedi, OlwethuThis report presents independent analysis using publicly available data on budgets, audited spending outcomes, and government plans for future expenditure. Our main concern is to draw inferences about the impact of budget choices on the allocation of real resources to core public services. The quantitative nature of budget choices means that, in contrast to other forms of policy expression, trade-offs between different policy goals are made clear and explicit. The report attempts to gauge the quantitative aspect of public policy in three respects. First, we identify the trends in real spending over the last two decades. Second, we use the budgets approved by parliament and provincial legislatures to gauge the impact of budget choices on real resource allocation over the next three years. Third, we present analysis of government pay and employment trends, which are strongly concentrated in the core public services that are our interest.Item Sovereign Debt: A Quagmire for Growth and Equity(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), 2022-12) Lijane, MamoketeThe recent rise in sovereign debt will have a profound impact on countries’ ability to grow and recover after the Covid-19 pandemic; it will also impact the degree of equity within and between countries. This paper assesses the impact of sovereign debt on efforts to address global inequality and development. Whether through policy constraints or its impact on economic structures, the size, use and composition of sovereign debt can affect whether and how countries grow and the inclusivity of economic growth.Item Towards a Tracking System to enforce Competition Law in the Southern and East African Region(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), 2022-11) Manjengwa, Earnest; Padayachie, Karissa Moothoo; Nsomba, Grace; Tshabalala , Ntombifuthi; Vilakazi, ThandoThe paper explores the role of market power in exacerbating inequality by looking at the effects of competition on income and wealth distribution. It argues that the conceptual framework, proposed in the paper, can be used to better understand market power and inequality in various African countries in order to develop appropriate responses.Item Characterising the Relationship Between Market Power and Inequality in Southern and East Africa. Why It Matters?(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), 2022) Padayachie, Karissa Moothoo; Vilakazi, ThandoThis working paper focuses on competition in the southern and east Africa region where there is a range of large firms with significant market power operating across political borders. It is against this background that it is important to understand the link between market power and inequality (Kaira, 2017; Nsomba et al., 2022). This paper provides preliminary reflections on what we know about that relationship, and details reasons why we need to understand it.Item The Machamba is for life: navigating a precarious labour market in rural Mozambique(Southern Centre For Inequality Studies (SCIS), 2022-12-01) Castel-Branco, RuthThere is significant debate about the class dynamics of agrarian change in Africa. In his seminal work, Maidens, Meal, and Money: Capitalism and the Domestic Community, Meillassoux (1981) [1975] predicted the cannibalisation of the peasantry with the growing dominance of capitalist relations in the countryside. Yet, nearly half a century on, evidence points to the continued relevance of the peasantry as a social, economic, and political construct. Drawing on the case of Mozambique – where two thirds of the economically active population still identify as camponês or peasant – this paper explores the contradictory meanings of the peasantry under contemporary capitalism. The first section traces the making of the proletarian-peasant in Southern Africa, critically engaging Meillassoux’s seminal work on the ‘domestic community’. The second explores the differentiated ways in which camponeses improvise a livelihood through the vignettes of a nearly landless labourer, a petty commodity producer and an emerging capitalist farmer. The third unpacks the significance of the machamba or field in navigating labour insecurity, focusing on the following dimensions of meaning: sustenance, autonomy, and social recognition. Ultimately, the paper concludes, the peasantry embodies a contradictory set of meanings which reflect processes of commodity production rather than a precapitalist past. While the cultivation of the machamba offers an autonomous source of livelihood, it is characterised by drudgery and insecurity; while it provides a reservation wage, it subsidises a system of accumulation based on widespread precarity; while it represents a victory against land dispossession, it can further entrench neoliberalism. Nevertheless, land struggles continue to be the primary driver of contentious politics in Mozambique.