The scope and scale of the informal food economy of South African urban residential townships: Results of a small-area micro-enterprise census

Growing urbanisation in South Africa is reflected in burgeoning Working class and informal township settlements on the fringes of its major towns and cities. Paired with this is an increasing reliance on cash as the primary means of economic transaction, which has in turn stimulated the growth of micro-enterprise business activities within the township context. This article discusses the findings of an eight-township small-area census which occurred between 2010 and 2013 in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Durban townships representing 250 000 residents. The researchers were able to establish the scope and scale of informal food and drink retailing in these localities. Of the 10 049 micro-enterprises located in the study, some 3966 (or 39% of the total) trade in food. These include enterprises in primary production, fresh produce retailing, grocery retailing from house and spaza shops, and informal foodservice enterprises. Food is the basis for much township informal business and plays an important role in making food increasingly affordable and locally accessible, and in creating cash employment. The article builds on the knowledge base of the township informal economy role in bolstering food security needs for the marginalised.     

The determinants of rural and urban household poverty in the North West province of South Africa

Based on standard poverty measures, the extent of poverty in the North West province is on average worse than in South Africa. For instance, the poverty gap ratio for North West is twice that of the South African average, and the FGT index is three times as high. This article therefore aims to identify the determinants of rural and urban poverty in the North West province of South Africa. Using data gathered from a survey of 593 black households across the province, probit model estimates suggest that the major significant determinants of household poverty in both rural and urban areas are education and household size. A difference between rural and urban poverty is, first, that extra female adults in a rural household raise the probability of poverty. Secondly, having a migrant (out) worker as head of the household in rural areas lowers the probability of poverty, while this does not apply to urban households. A sensitivity analysis for the robustness of the results over a range of poverty lines reveals that the impact of education is much stronger for poorer households than for more wealthy households.     

The dynamics of household dissolution and change in socio-economic position: A survival model in a rural South Africa

This paper investigates household dissolution and changes in asset wealth (socio-economic position) in a rural South African community containing settled refugees. Survival analysis applied to a longitudinal dataset indicated that the covariates increasing the risk of forced household dissolution were a reduction in socio-economic position (asset wealth), adult deaths and the permanent outmigration of more than 40% of the household. Conversely, the risk of dissolution was reduced by bigger households, state grants and older household heads. Significant spatial clusters of former refugee villages also showed a higher risk of dissolution after 20?years of permanent residence. A discussion of the dynamics of dissolution showed how an outflow/inflow of household assets (socio-economic position) was precipitated by each of the selected covariates. The paper shows how an understanding of the dynamics of forced household dissolution, combined with the use of geo-spatial mapping, can inform inter-disciplinary policy in a rural community.     

企业员工培训:入世后的改革与创新

美国、日本和香港的市场经济相当发达 ,在政府管理商业方面各自都有一套成熟的模式。研究、分析和借鉴它们在市场经济条件下政府管理商业的成功模式 ,对转变我国的政府管理职能 ,推动我国商业管理体制的改革 ,具有重大的意义。     

提高博士生培养质量刍议

本文通过数据统计实证分析 ,发现浙江省的民营经济与国有经济在资金投入产出上存在严重的不对称 ,从而制约了民营企业的活力和快速发展 ,得出了改变对民营企业的传统偏见 ,为其提供一个宽松、公平、合理、有效的环境 ,加大国有金融机构对民营经济的信贷倾斜 ,设立专门为民营企     

Infrastructure implications of a green economy transition in the Western Cape Province of South Africa: A system dynamics modelling approach

In order to meet future goals in reducing the resulting carbon emissions from transport networks, vast investment in the development of a more energy-efficient and sustainable infrastructure is required. This study investigates the infrastructure implications of a green economy transition in the Western Cape Province of South Africa with a particular focus on the transport sector. Utilising a system dynamics modelling approach, the research effort aimed to improve understanding of how technical, economic, political, social, and environmental factors interact, particularly in the context of the uncertainties encountered during this transition. The key findings of the research indicate that investment in a better public transport system, as well as shifting the movement of freight onto the rail network, would deliver long-term positive effects, including a possible carbon emission reduction of up to 17.89%.     

Tourism impact,distribution and development: The spatial structure of tourism in the Western Cape province of South Africa

The structural dimensions of a country's tourism sector, and in particular the spatial structure of tourism production and consumption, relate closely to the nature and extent of the impact that tourism can have. This article examines the spatial characteristics of tourism in the Western Cape province, one of South Africa's foremost international tourist regions, and where its government seeks to use tourism as an instrument of development and socio-economic transformation. To understand how this could be effected it is necessary to understand the spatial distributional effects of tourism, and the underlying reasons for it. To this end the article examines the spatial structure of the provincial accommodation sector as evidenced in patterns of accommodation supply and tourist usage (demand); and trends in the nature, direction and distribution of public and private-sector tourism investments. The central argument is that tourism is geographically focused, with tourist activities concentrated in a few locales and sub-regions. This follows the general demographic and economic contours of the province. Yet trends in capital investments tend to reinforce the spatial concentration of tourism. Attempts by the government to spread tourism's benefits have not been too successful due to institutional and capacity deficiencies. Greater emphasis should be placed on developing domestic tourism.     

Performance of land reform projects in the North West province of South Africa: Changes over time and possible causes

Anecdotal evidence as well as selected studies on the performance and progress of South Africa’s land reform programme generally present mixed to rather negative results. Few longitudinal studies exist on the progress of redistributed farms, resulting in an incomplete picture of the performance and progress of land reform projects. In this article, we report on the progress and performance of a group of land reform projects in the North West province of South Africa over five years. As part of a comprehensive audit of land reform projects in the North West province, 43 farms were studied in 2005 to assess their performance, based on their production status. Five years later, in 2010, 37 of these farms were visited again to review their progress. The results indicate that the production status (and thus performance) of land reform projects is not static. Although some projects either improved or maintained their initial production status, the overall trend shows deterioration in performance. Numerous factors are responsible for the decline, including group characteristics where farms are owned by groups of beneficiaries. This article is thus the first to use two surveys of a group of land reform projects to show the true status of farms in their post-transfer phase in South Africa.     

苏南经济发达地区农村固体废物现状及对策分析

太湖由于高强度的开发和水环境治理的滞后,水环境污染日趋严重。突出表现在河网水质的污染和太湖的富营养化,流域内水质型缺水和水污染矛盾不断发生和发展,己成为流域经济社会可持续发展的制约因素。以江苏宜兴地区农村固体废物资源化调查为例,通过对示范村的农户进行实地调查,获得太湖周边地区经济较发达的农村生活垃圾产生情况及垃圾特性,并了解当地村民的环境保护意识,分析农村生活垃圾回收利用的可行性,为农村生活垃圾的资源化利用提供决策依据。     

The development status of women in South Africa: Patterns and progress in the provinces

The development status of women in South Africa declined between 1996 and 2001. This study examined whether the decline was pervasive throughout the nine provinces, and whether any development patterns were apparent among the provinces. The findings revealed that women had lost ground across the board, both in absolute terms and relative to men. They also showed that certain ranking patterns prevailed among the nine provinces and, notably, that women in provinces with pre-existing poor development statuses may also be predisposed to a poor development status relative to men. This double burden may translate into a perpetuation of poverty for women who find themselves in these provinces.     

The Transmission of Monetary Policy in South Africa Before and After the Global Financial Crisis

This paper examines whether the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in South Africa has changed after the global financial crisis (GFC). We use a Bayesian vector autoregressive (BVAR) model with Minnesota priors and 15 monthly variables, extending the system of Christiano, Eichenbaum, with Evans (1999). The benefit of the BVAR approach is that it can accommodate a large cross section of variables without running out of degrees of freedom. To identify the change in the transmission process, we divide the sample size into two subsamples, namely the pre‐GFC period (March 2001 to August 2008) and the post‐GFC period (September 2008 to February 2016). The results indicate that a change in the transmission of monetary policy occurred after the GFC. The magnitude of the effect of a monetary policy shock on output is considerably greater in the pre‐GFC period compared to the post‐GFC period. Moreover, the impact of a policy shock on inflation is not statistically significant in the post‐GFC period. The variance decomposition shows that the interest‐rate channel has possibly weakened in the post‐GFC period.     

Welfare measures and the composition of the bottom decile: The example of gender and extreme poverty in South Africa

We examine the composition of the bottom decile in South Africa using three alternative measures of socio-economic status (SES): an asset index, household income per capita and household expenditure per capita. We show that the gender composition of the bottom decile is sensitive to the measure used. We discuss possible reasons for these discrepancies, highlighting gender differences in asset ownership and location. This has implications for the use of asset indices for identifying the poorest members of society.     

农村合作经济视野的欠发达地区开发与生态良性互动

欠发达地区农村的生态保护和经济发展的互动促进在一定条件下是可行的。应通过政府的生态产业规划引导、政策和资金扶持,金融机构的优先融资,媒体的产品和品牌推介,合作经济内生经营能力的提高,农民主体作用的发挥等措施,在做大做强农村合作经济的基础上促进生态的不断改善。     

我国新时代南北经济发展差距变化趋势

进入新时代以来,随着南北经济分化加剧,平衡南北成为我国区域协调发展重要理论和实践问题。文章深入考察了我国新时代南北经济发展差距变化趋势。文章首先通过偏离-份额法分析得出2015-2020年北方经济趋弱的原因在于其三次产业差异性竞争力均处于劣势地位、失去了第二产业结构性竞争优势;其次,进一步将差异性因素划分为区位性、机制性两方面,选取2003-2018年省级面板数据,运用计量经济学模型和地理探测器模型检验了区位性-结构性-机制性三大经济影响因素;另外,面向形成新发展格局和实现双碳战略目标,北方区位将迎来发挥优势的契机;产业结构调整、能源转型和发展动力转型是北方结构转型的重点;南北平衡发展更亟待制度和战略创新;最后,提出加快北方发展、促进南北均衡的若干对策建议。文章试图为挖掘缩小我国南北经济差距的可能因素提供科学分析框架,期望对平衡南北发展有所助益。     

我国城市营商环境的评价指标体系构建及其南北差异分析

我国经济发展南北差异较大,城市营商环境对于南北区域经济发展具有重要影响。基于生态系统理论,从公共服务、人力资源、市场环境、创新环境、金融服务、法治环境、政务环境七个维度构建我国城市营商环境评价指标体系,对我国南北区域的城市营商环境进行比较分析。结果表明,南方地区城市营商环境整体上优于全国平均水平,且南方地区城市间营商环境差异相对较大;北方地区城市的营商环境得分整体上低于南方地区、全国水平,但北方地区城市间营商环境差异相对较小。同时,在七个分项指标方面,南方地区城市得分全面高于北方地区城市。在优化区域城市营商环境方面,南方地区的城市要进一步打破城市间营商环境发展不均衡格局,建立城市间营商环境评比机制;北方地区的城市需依据区域特征制定更具针对性的优化城市营商环境的政策。