Why this research matters South Africa’s economy, despite its extensive mineral wealth, has not achieved the growth many reasonably anticipated. Instead, it has suffered significant industrial decline, jeopardising broad-based development. This paper investigates...
Like many, I have been trying to make sense of US President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. Many others see this as a futile exercise. Either way you look at it, what has happened — and what might still happen — is consequential, not only for the US but...
The JSE took a hammering last week. The All-Share Index (ASI) dropped by roughly 4.5% on Thursday alone, wiping out nearly R1 trillion. Hundreds of thousands of South African employees’ pensions are represented in the ASI. In perspective, a trillion rand is just...
One may say a lot about Trump. As Bono said when introducing U2’s best song at Red Rocks in 1984: “There’s been a lot of talk about this next song... maybe too much talk... this song is not a rebel song; this song is Sunday Bloody Sunday." So perhaps there has been...
Budgets are always controversial. They’re a function of political battles tempered by economic realities. The South African budget is no less so. In mathematical terms, a country’s annual budget is literally about dynamic optimisation subject to constraints. Minister...
Welcome to 2025! As I write this column, I am preparing to attend my 12th African Mining Indaba. The theme for 2025 is “Future-Proofing African Mining, Today!” This is built on four pillars, all worth interrogating more fully, but we’ll focus predominantly on the...
It is our deeply held view at Good Governance Africa that South Africa’s long-term economic growth trajectory will not produce broad-based benefits for citizens until its political institutions are configured to produce more accountability. This is another way of...
A recent article by Craig Singleton in The New York Times – aside from appearing like a job application to work in the new Trump administration – fell only just short of endorsing an America-first attempt to beat China into economic submission through aggressive...
Those who provide answers to difficult development questions open themselves to criticism Nobel prizes in Economics are controversial affairs, understandably. Providing parsimonious answers to difficult development questions is a tough ask, and those who take it on...
Donald Trump, to the chagrin of many, is firmly re-established in the White House. The day before the election, The Economist predicted a Kamala Harris win, but its model appeared to be overly sensitive to small-sample polls and insufficiently sensitive to Trump’s...
Why this research matters South Africa’s economy, despite its extensive mineral wealth, has not achieved the growth many reasonably anticipated. Instead, it has suffered significant industrial decline, jeopardising broad-based development. This paper investigates...
Like many, I have been trying to make sense of US President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. Many others see this as a futile exercise. Either way you look at it, what has happened — and what might still happen — is consequential, not only for the US but...
The JSE took a hammering last week. The All-Share Index (ASI) dropped by roughly 4.5% on Thursday alone, wiping out nearly R1 trillion. Hundreds of thousands of South African employees’ pensions are represented in the ASI. In perspective, a trillion rand is just...
One may say a lot about Trump. As Bono said when introducing U2’s best song at Red Rocks in 1984: “There’s been a lot of talk about this next song... maybe too much talk... this song is not a rebel song; this song is Sunday Bloody Sunday." So perhaps there has been...
Budgets are always controversial. They’re a function of political battles tempered by economic realities. The South African budget is no less so. In mathematical terms, a country’s annual budget is literally about dynamic optimisation subject to constraints. Minister...
Welcome to 2025! As I write this column, I am preparing to attend my 12th African Mining Indaba. The theme for 2025 is “Future-Proofing African Mining, Today!” This is built on four pillars, all worth interrogating more fully, but we’ll focus predominantly on the...
It is our deeply held view at Good Governance Africa that South Africa’s long-term economic growth trajectory will not produce broad-based benefits for citizens until its political institutions are configured to produce more accountability. This is another way of...
A recent article by Craig Singleton in The New York Times – aside from appearing like a job application to work in the new Trump administration – fell only just short of endorsing an America-first attempt to beat China into economic submission through aggressive...
Those who provide answers to difficult development questions open themselves to criticism Nobel prizes in Economics are controversial affairs, understandably. Providing parsimonious answers to difficult development questions is a tough ask, and those who take it on...
Donald Trump, to the chagrin of many, is firmly re-established in the White House. The day before the election, The Economist predicted a Kamala Harris win, but its model appeared to be overly sensitive to small-sample polls and insufficiently sensitive to Trump’s...