Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (Research Outputs)
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Item The Care-Climate Nexus - A Conceptual Framework(2025-01) Phalatse, Sonia; Taylor, Julia; Valodia, ImraanAs is widely acknowledged and evidenced, climate change threatens food security and sovereignty; water availability, accessibility and quality; health and livelihoods. Where women bear the primary responsibility of unpaid care work such as food provision, water collection, and care for the young, sick and elderly, climate change disproportionately disadvantages them. This applies to the work of care and, more broadly, to social reproduction. Climate change thus contributes to an ongoing crisis of care, exacerbating the injustices associated with women carrying a disproportionate share of unpaid care. As such, fostering a value for care could be a means through which social and environmental inequalities are equally addressed in an ecological transition. This paper expands on the conceptual linkages of a care-climate nexus, with the aim of supporting climate policy.Item Price discrimination in merger review in South Africa: Implications of recent case precedent(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS) University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2025-02-12) Leuner, RahmaMergers have the potential to give firms access to more data from which to draw insights about consumers. This may help firms to better discern which consumers are price insensitive or captive, or exhibit behavioural biases, that they can exploit by charging them higher prices or nudging them towards higher priced options. Based on recent case precedent, we believe that the transfer or sharing of data or techniques in mergers involving price-discriminating firms may be sufficient for meeting the requirement of merger-specificity without there needing to be an increase in market power. Recent local case precedent also provides insight into when mergers impact on just a small group of consumers are likely to matter. It suggests that the competition authorities in the country should be more concerned where consumers are vulnerable and where access to the services/products is particularly important to this group.Item Budget 2025 Preview: Pressures and tensions along the austerity road to fiscal sustainability(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, 2025-02) Sachs, Michael; Amra, Rashaad; Madonko, Thokozile; Willcox, OwenThis policy brief, ahead of the tabling of the 2025 Budget Review, considers the policy context and the fiscal and economic environment in which the Budget will be tabled. It considers the merits, limitations, and likely consequences of the government’s approach to budget policy over the medium term, as contained in the 2024 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), which redoubled efforts to consolidate public finances while attempting to promote capital spending. Since the MTBPS, several material expenditure pressures have emerged, some of which were flagged in the Public Economy Project’s (PEP) 2024 MTBPS analysis, and the economic outlook has been revised. Based on this, the Public Economy Project’s revised outlook for public finance finds that the government’s ambitious plan to stabilise debt over the medium term is unlikely to be realised.Item A panoptic view of the South African wealth tax(AOSIS, 2025-01) Ram, Asheer JaywantBackground: Wealth taxes are a topic of intense debate, with most countries having either abolished them or considered, but not implemented such measures. The South African government is contemplating the introduction of a wealth tax, purportedly to enhance revenue collection. Aim: This article examines whether the proposed South African wealth tax functions as a government panopticon, offering an alternative explanation for its introduction. It also considers the government’s transparency regarding the potential wealth tax. Setting: This article examined the opinions of tax experts in South Africa. Method: An interpretive approach is adopted. The traits of the wealth tax and the themes of the panopticon are identified and used as the row and column headings in a correspondence table, which serves as the research instrument distributed to tax experts. The tax experts indicate any associations between the themes of the panopticon and the traits of the wealth tax. Forty aggregated responses are subjected to correspondence analysis. Results: The potential wealth tax functions as a panopticon. It identifies and reveals relevant tax information about high-wealth individuals, appearing to coerce their compliance. Conclusion: There is credence to the alternate rationale for introducing a wealth tax in South Africa. Contribution: This is one of the first articles to apply the panopticon, a novel theoretical framework, in a tax context in South Africa. The findings are relevant to the exploration of similar taxes in other jurisdictions and provide a means for the critical evaluation of the motives behind tax policy decisions made by governments.Item Business development services training and entrepreneurial self-efficacy – a focus on necessity- and opportunity-driven entrepreneurs(AOSIS Publishing, 2024) Msimango-Galawe, Jabulile; Eister, TshegofatsoBackground: Entrepreneurs have been galvanised by the worsened economic circumstances in South Africa, and small businesses struggle to become established. By providing skills training, business development services (BDS) improve the performance of firms, through the development of entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Aim: The objective of this study was to determine the impact of BDS training on the entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) of necessity- and opportunity-driven entrepreneurs and whether that impact would be more positive in opportunity-driven rather than necessity-driven entrepreneurs. Setting: The study focused on 519 entrepreneurs in South Africa, of which 97 were necessitydriven and 422 were opportunity-driven. Methods: Statistical analyses were conducted using correlation analysis and multiple linear regression to test the impact of training on the ESE of necessity- and opportunity-driven entrepreneurs while controlling for the impact of confounding variables: gender, education, management experience, industry experience and partnerships. Results: The empirical evidence from this study showed that general entrepreneurial training is more effective in increasing the entrepreneurial self-efficacy of opportunity-driven entrepreneurs, whereas task-specific training was better suited for increasing the entrepreneurial self-efficacy of necessity-driven entrepreneurs. Conclusion: The implications and recommendations of this study are that policymakers should design general entrepreneurial training programmes targeted at opportunity-driven entrepreneurs and task-specific training programmes targeted at necessity-driven entrepreneurs. Contribution: This study enhances the understanding of the training needs of necessity-driven entrepreneurs and how they differ from opportunity-driven entrepreneurs concerning ESE and the growth of their businesses.Item Tax the super-rich for the right to the city(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, 2024-10-07) Veloso, SérgioThe inequality in Brazilian cities is evident: few live in luxury while the majority face precarious conditions. High-end apartments drive up rents, forcing out long-time residents. This scenario reflects an injustice that needs to be addressed. The richest 1% in Brazil owns almost half of the wealth, while millions survive with difficulty. This concentration worsens social exclusion in cities. During the recent G20 Finance Ministers meeting, Brazil proposed a 2% tax on the super-rich, which could generate 250 billion dollars per year. These resources could improve infrastructure, housing and community services. This engagement paper contributes to the ongoing discourse around tax reform in Brazil and unpacks Brazil's regressive system, and outlines how taxing the wealthy can contribute to reclaiming cities and restoring justice.Item Taxar os super-ricos pelo direito à cidade!(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, 2024-10-02) Veloso, SérgioA desigualdade nas cidades brasileiras é evidente: poucos vivem em luxo enquanto a maioria enfrenta a precariedade. Apartamentos de alto padrão elevam os aluguéis, expulsando moradores antigos. Esse cenário reflete uma injustiça que precisa ser combatida. O 1% mais rico no Brasil detém quase metade da riqueza, enquanto milhões sobrevivem com dificuldade. Essa concentração agrava a exclusão social nas cidades. Durante a recente reunião de Ministros de Finanças do G20, o Brasil propôs uma taxa de 2% sobre os super-ricos, que poderia gerar 250 bilhões de dólares por ano. Esses recursos poderiam melhorar infraestrutura, moradias e serviços comunitários.Item The Effects of Public Investment in the Green and Care Economies and Public Infrastructure in South Africa(2024) Onaran, Ozlem; Oyvat, CemThis paper argues that a comprehensive mix of policy tools is essential to catalyse the urgent public investment required to address South Africa's growth, inequality, care, and climate change crises. According to the National Treasury, from 2010 to 2019, South Africa's growth averaged only 1.75% annually, a figure further reduced when factoring in the COVID-19-impacted years of 2020 and 2021. Fiscal policy involves decisions regarding government spending levels, tax revenue generation, and borrowing. Since 2013, a fiscal consolidation strategy has been in place to curb public spending growth, resulting in decreased expenditures on public services due to rising debt service costs. This paper argues that increasing public spending on the care economy, green economy, and public infrastructure would boost GDP and employment, thereby altering public debt/GDP ratios. It advocates expansionary fiscal policies, clear development targets, and coordinated fiscal, monetary, industrial, labour, and social policies.Item Towards a gender just transition: Principles and perspectives from the global South(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-06-19) Cerise, Somali; Cook, Sarah; Lehmann-Grube, Katrina; Taylor, Julia; Valodia, ImraanA ‘just transition’ broadly refers to the principles, processes and practices used to ensure that transitions to a low-carbon economy are socially just. Gender justice, however, frequently remains marginal to mainstream debates and policies – whether about climate finance, technological solutions, corporate management approaches – or indeed most government transition strategies. This paper argues that ensuring a transition that delivers gender justice is both critical and urgent. Without explicit attention to, and clear prioritisation of gender justice across transition policies, climate change ‘solutions’ risk replicating or reinforcing structural gender inequalities. Examples of such risk include women’s continued limited access to economic opportunities, employment and social protection; their over-representation in precarious work; and women’s primary responsibility for social reproduction and care. Communities with few livelihood options and limited access to services rely heavily on natural resources to survive. These resources are vital to the provision of care and may be severely affected by environmental degradation. Care responsibilities expose women disproportionately to climate and environmental impacts. Women are the household members most likely to bear the burden of adapting to climate change. These realities reduce the likelihood that any climate transition can be just without a clear focus on the policies, strategies and implementation processes needed to achieve gender justice. This paper asks what a gender just transition could and should look like, particularly in the global South. Based on an extensive review of conceptual and empirical literatures from a range of disciplinary perspectives, we examine how different approaches address – or ignore – gender dimensions of (in)justice in thinking about low-carbon transitions. We go on to offer a more expansive view of justice informed by perspectives drawn from feminist theory, and combine this with the pillars of distributive, procedural, recognitive and restorative justice.Item Corporate financialisation: a conceptual clarification and critical review of the literature(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, 2024-05) Reddy, Niall; Rabinovich, JoelCorporate financialisation (CF) comprises a major field of financialisation studies centred on the belief that significant changes in corporate governance and business models have been driven by financial imperatives, which have had a profound impact on investment habits, labour policies, organisational practices and the distribution of revenues. Experiencing explosive growth in recent years, this field has become mired in conceptual ambiguity, mirroring problems with financialisation studies as a whole. While seeking to restore some conceptual clarity and clearly delineate the boundaries of the concept, this paper offers a detailed review of empirical work on CF. At the core of the field, we identify four sub-theories, each addressing distinct aspects of the way business models have become financialised under the influence of shareholder value principles. Our dissection of the literature shows, however, that these theories mostly remain under-substantiated. The connection of financialisation strategies to key outcomes of interest, such as declining investment and rising inequality, remains nebulous in most cases. Beyond this, we identify key weaknesses in the way shareholder value orientation – the causal lynch pin of CF accounts – has been theorised. The field as a whole has paid insufficient attention to the variegated and uneven nature of the shareholder revolution, which has prevented a single uniform set of governance principles from diffusing. We also argue that the tendency to dilute definitions of corporate financialisation across explanans and explanandum has masked problems of verification. The critique concludes with a call for conceptual clarity and more care in distinguishing financialisation from causal channels associated with other structural dynamics, such as monopolisation.