Dwindling access to basic services in Zimbabwe

The study narrates the decline in access to three basic publicly provided services, namely, health, education, and water and sanitation for Zimbabwe for the period covering 2000 to May 2009. Special emphasis is placed on the impact of fiscal fragility on the ability of the government to provide these services. Through interviews and newspaper articles, the research found that, for the period under study, very few Zimbabweans residing in the country were able to access these basic services because they were not supplied in sufficient amounts, were not supplied at all, or were exorbitantly priced.fiscal fragility; health; education; water and sanitation

Trade reform and trade flows in South Africa: a product level analysis

Thesis (Ph.D. (Economics))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic & Business Sciences.This thesis investigates the impact of tariff liberalisation on South African trade flows and product quality. The thesis addresses four objectives. First, various measures of trade margins (extensive and intensive) are discussed and calculated for exports and imports. Second, focusing on the European Union-South African Free Trade Agreement, the study investigates the impact of tariff liberalisation on South Africa’s export intensive and extensive trade margins. Third, the impact of tariff liberalisation on the intensive and extensive import margins is investigated focusing on South Africa major trading partners. Lastly, the study examines the impact of tariff liberalisation on product quality of South African exports. In addressing these objectives, the study uses panel data exploiting variations across product, time and countries. The results (in Chapter 2) show that South Africa generally exports more varieties to developed countries and trade more at the intensive margin with China. For imports, the results show that South Africa imported more varieties from developed than developing countries. These results are consistent across different measures of trade margins. In general, the results shows that trade agreements have been important in shaping South Africa’s trade patterns. The study also finds differential impacts of tariff reduction across product groups exported (Chapter 3). Disaggregated results largely confirm that tariff reductions are associated with an increase in the number of destinations of South African exports, except for consumer goods. Homogenous products show a weaker relationship with tariff reduction suggesting that homogeneous products are not easily traded even if there is tariff reduction. This implies the need for South African exporters to differentiate their products to increase trade with the European Union. The results also show differential impacts of tariff reduction across different product groups imported (Chapter 4). Capital, intermediate and consumer products show greater responsiveness to changes in tariffs suggesting that trade policy should be targeted, especially to those sectors that aid production. Finally, results show a positive relationship between tariff changes and product quality (Chapter 5). The results suggest that tariff declines are associated with a decline in quality upgrading

Dwindling access to basic services in Zimbabwe

The study narrates the decline in access to three basic publicly provided services, namely, health, education, and water and sanitation for Zimbabwe for the period covering 2000 to May 2009. Special emphasis is placed on the impact of fiscal fragility on the ability of the government to provide these services. Through interviews and newspaper articles, the research found that, for the period under study, very few Zimbabweans residing in the country were able to access these basic services because they were not supplied in sufficient amounts, were not supplied at all, or were exorbitantly priced

Dwindling access to basic services in Zimbabwe

The study narrates the decline in access to three basic publicly provided services, namely, health, education, and water and sanitation for Zimbabwe for the period covering 2000 to May 2009. Special emphasis is placed on the impact of fiscal fragility on the ability of the government to provide these services. Through interviews and newspaper articles, the research found that, for the period under study, very few Zimbabweans residing in the country were able to access these basic services because they were not supplied in sufficient amounts, were not supplied at all, or were exorbitantly priced

Determinants of bond yield spread changes in South Africa

This paper offers an emerging market perspective on the determinants of bond yield spread changes. The study covers the period 2005-2013 and it is based on a sample of 106 corporate vanilla bonds listed on the South African market. To capture the impact of the financial crisis of 2007-2008, the sample period is split into three sub periods, the pre-financial crisis (2005-2006), mid-financial crisis (2007-2009) and post financial crisis (2010-2013). The study shows that changes in equity volatility, interest rate level and the yield curve slope are significant determinants of bond yield spreads. The impact of equity volatility and interest rate level is more pronounced during the mid-financial crisis period. Controlling for credit ratings and bond convexity does not alter the findings. The study confirms the results documented in developed countries, and highlights the key determinants of bond values and returns of active bond trading strategies. For policy makers, the findings of this study call for further measures and reforms to address liquidity challenges on the bond market and volatility induced by non-resident investors.Keywords: Equity volatility; Bond yield spread changes; Corporate bonds; South Africa; Emerging market

Institutions, credit markets and development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper reviews the evidence on the impact of institutions and credit market on development outcomes. The study uses panel data techniques and the data is from 1995 to 2013. The results shows that the better the institutions, the higher the credit extension to the private sector and higher the level of economic development. This applies also to credit market. If credit market functions well, development is bound to increase. This has important implications for policy in Africa. Governments should aim to improve their institutions to increase the economic development of their countries. Also, improvement in markets, especially, credit access will increase development. Keywords: institutions, credit market, fixed effects, development and Africa. JEL Classification: E5, C23, O16, G1, G2

A 2013 Social Accounting Matrix for Zimbabwe

This paper documents the construction of a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for Zimbabwe in 2013. The SAM was built using National Accounts data from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT), including balance of payment data, government finance data, and highly aggregated industry-level production accounts. Detailed data on industry and service sectors were obtained from ZIMSTAT surveys. For some activities, unpublished but recent supply and use data on disaggregated industries were combined with data from older sources. These sources include a 2011/12 ZIMSTAT household survey, trade data, the Central Government Budget, and output and price data from private farming organizations. The SAM provides a detailed representation of Zimbabwe's economy with 36 activities and 48 commodities. The SAM disaggregates labour into skilled and unskilled labour and separates households into rural and urban households. Despite shortcomings in the underlying data, it is hoped that this initial attempt at constructing a SAM representing the economy of Zimbabwe after land reform will stimulate further work aimed at improving it