The Determinants Of The Economic Wellbeing Of An Ageing Population

Studying the impact of aging on GDP per capita does not give a clear picture of the economic wellbeing of elderly people. GDP per capita does not cater for people’s level of development or improvements in their standard of living. As a result, it is not a reliable measure of wellbeing. Each person has a different perspective regarding their economic wellbeing, and as a result, this study examines the impact of population aging on the economic wellbeing of the elderly in the King Cetshwayo District Municipality. A cross-sectional data set consisting of one hundred and fifty (150) participants was utilized to explore the determinants of economic wellbeing. Househeads aged 60 and above were asked questions about their demographics, level of education, asset ownership, and affordability of basic needs. The logistic regression model was used to examine the relationship between economic wellbeing and independent variables like age, gender, level of education, household savings, and other variables. The findings revealed that population aging does not affect the economic wellbeing of the elderly. Economic wellbeing was found to be determined by factors such as gender, education, health care expenditure, household savings, and increases in price levels

The implications of population ageing on savings rates

Changes in population structure can have a great impact on savings rates. This study investigated the relationship that exists between the aging population and the savings rate in South Africa. The gross savings of South Africa from 1995 to 2017 was analysed. A fixed effect model and a random effect model were used as baselines for arbitrary correlations between unobserved heterogeneity and independent variables. The Hausman test was utilized to find a more efficient and consistent model that produces consistent results. The argument of the Lice Cycle Hypothesis developed by Modigliani (1970) and those previous research findings in which the rising older population has a tendency to decrease the rates of savings were followed in this paper. The findings revealed that an increase in old-age dependency does not cause the level of savings to decline but will rather lead to an increase in savings. The findings agree with the bequest theory, which states that old people save up their money for their upcoming generation. Due to the findings obtained in this paper, economic policies that aim to increase savings through demographics might not be relevant and are therefore not suggested

The Nonlinear Dynamic Impact of Development-Inequality in the Prudential Policy Regime in Emerging Economies: A Bayesian Spatial Lag Panel Smooth Transition Regression Approach

A panel data analysis of the nonlinear dynamics of economic-development in a macroprudential policy regime was conducted in a panel of 25 emerging markets who were grouped together based on their regions: 10 African countries, 8 Asian countries, and 7 European countries covering the period 2000–2019. The paper explored the validity of the Kuznets hypothesis in a prudential policy regime as well as the threshold level at which economic-development reduces inequality, using the Bayesian Spatial Lag Panel Smooth Transition Regression model. This model was adopted due to its ability to address the problems of endogeneity, heterogeneity, and time and spatial-varying in a nonlinear framework. We found evidence of a non-linear effect between the two variables, where the threshold was found to be US$15,900, above which reduces inequality in the African emerging markets; while for emerging Asian and emerging European markets, we documented a U-shape relationship with an optimal level of economic-development estimated at US$17,078 and US$19,000, respectively. Unconventional and macroprudential policies were found to trigger development-inequality relationships. The result supported the S-curve relationship in these regions. Our evidence largely suggests that policymakers ought to formulate policies aiming at increasing agricultural productivity through land redistribution, investment, trade, and promoting human development. Policymakers should also be cautious when implementing macroprudential and unconventional monetary policies

The impact of population aging on local revenue : district-level evidence from South Africa

M.Com. (Local Economic Development)Abstract: This paper examines the empirical relationship between the population ageing and local revenue in South Africa. Using annual datasets for the period 1995 to 2013, the study focuses on the 52 districts municipalities in South Africa, over these 18 years. It analyses this relationship by utilising district-level output as a proxy for local revenue, dependency ratio, gross capital formation and employment rate data drawn from Quantec. Districts are categorised into young and old, depending on their average national old-age dependence ratio. The study adopts dynamic panel methodologies, generalised methods of moments and dynamic fixed effects as the estimation techniques in a growth model framework. One major advantage of using these methodologies is their ability to control for endogeneity, heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence in the case of dynamic fixed effects. The results show that in the period under study, the population structural changes in South Africa had a substantial impact on the performance of the economy at the district level. The age-dependency ratio coefficient is not only statistically significant, but exerts a negative influence on gross added value. The impact is greater in young districts than in old districts. Gross capital formation is statistically significant and positively related to gross added value, and in contrast to the age dependency, it exerts more influence in the old districts. Employment is insignificant in explaining gross added value. These disparities might be justified by the fact that there is higher economic activity in the young districts, which are predominantly occupied by the productive age cohort

THE IMPACT OF POPULATION AGING ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY: A CASE OF THE KING CETSHWAYO DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY

Population aging presents numerous challenges, such as a reduced fiscal balance, changes in the savings patterns of households, and higher age dependency ratios. These consequences are evident for older individuals, the government, and the economy at large. This study examined the impact of population aging on the economic growth of South Africa, studying the King Cetshwayo District Municipality specifically. A panel data set for the period 2002-2020 by Quantec Easy Data was used for the study. A FE regression model was used to examine the relationship between economic growth (GDP per capita), population aging, savings, education, and other independent variables. The findings from the panel data analysis revealed that population aging negatively affects economic growth only in the short run but not in the long run. Also, other factors like education, savings, and income affected economic growth in the King Cetshwayo District Municipality. This study recommends a transformation in the country’s savings by educating the population about the importance of savings in order to improve GDP per capita and the economic wellbeing of the people

The Effects of Inequality on the Substitution of Essential Goods for Tobacco Smoking in South Africa

Tobacco consumption contributes to a substantial amount of household expenditures, which might lead to decreased spending on other essentials. This study examines household head tobacco expenditures in various inequality settings. In this study, we investigated the impact of gender, race, and educational inequality and the substitution effect of tobacco expenditure on essentials such as children’s education and household food. We looked at how much of the resources household heads spend on tobacco in different inequality settings that replace households’ essentials. The panel setting of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS), South Africa’s first nationally representative household panel survey, is used as a data collection source for this study. These are household surveys conducted by the Presidency’s Office of Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation. The panel data are subject to attrition in longitudinal research. We compared the conditional expenditure shares of various types of households using econometric models such as moment quantile regression. A negative and statistically significant estimated coefficient of tobacco expenditure and the coefficient of the interacted term (inequality and tobacco expenditure) demonstrated the substitution effect. The findings reveal that low-income households whose heads smoke tobacco invest less in their children’s education, while well-educated heads of high-income households’ place as much value on their children’s education as they do on cigarette expenditure. The study also points out that the share of income spent on cigarettes by black household heads is negatively connected to their children’s education across all quantiles compared to non-blacks. We conclude that low-income households are more likely to experience the substitution impact than high-income households. This study recommends, among other things, that low-income households should prioritize needs over non-essentials in order to maximize household satisfaction, and government should implement policies that will limit tobacco consumption expenditure

Compensation as a motivating factor of job satisfaction and performance

The attitude that employees have towards their job is well believed to have an influence on their performance. This study investigated the influence of job satisfaction on employees’ performance. Herzberg’s two-factor hygiene and motivation theory was used to explain employees' motivation for best performance. A cross-sectional survey design in the form of a structured questionnaire was used to randomly sample one hundred (100) employees of the University of Zululand, South Africa. Descriptive and correlation analysis were used to analyze the collected data. The findings indicate that job satisfaction does not influence employees’ performance. The study concludes that UNIZULU employees enjoy their roles despite the unsatisfactory benefits attached. In spite of the unsatisfactory level of benefits, they perform their duties effortlessly. This research contributes to research-based knowledge that will assist universities’ management in identifying the factors that will enhance employees’ performance

Compensation as a motivating factor of job satisfaction and performance

The attitude that employees have towards their job is well believed to have an influence on their performance. This study investigated the influence of job satisfaction on employees’ performance. Herzberg’s two-factor hygiene and motivation theory was used to explain employees' motivation for best performance. A cross-sectional survey design in the form of a structured questionnaire was used to randomly sample one hundred (100) employees of the University of Zululand, South Africa. Descriptive and correlation analysis were used to analyze the collected data. The findings indicate that job satisfaction does not influence employees’ performance. The study concludes that UNIZULU employees enjoy their roles despite the unsatisfactory benefits attached. In spite of the unsatisfactory level of benefits, they perform their duties effortlessly. This research contributes to research-based knowledge that will assist universities’ management in identifying the factors that will enhance employees’ performance