Quantifying Foreign Direct Investment Productivity Spillovers in China: A Computable General Equilibrium Model

For the purposes of this study, we will construct a static monopolistically‐competitive computable general equilibrium model to quantify the endogenous productivity spillovers from foreign and domestic firms, using the Chinese economy as a case study. Our simulation results indicate: (i) that the net spillover effects are positive in terms of national total output, GDP and welfare; (ii) that both state‐owned and privately‐owned firms benefit, but that private firms benefit more; (iii) that industries with large volumes of foreign direct investment (FDI) do not necessarily observe the largest spillover effects; and (iv) that the spillover effects become more prominent when the initial market structure is more concentrated.     

Economic and Distributional Impact of COVID-19: Evidence from Macro-Micro Modelling of the South African Economy

A computable general equilibrium model linked to a microsimulation model is applied to assess the potential short-term effects on the South African economy of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With a particular focus on distributional outcomes, two simulations are run, a mild and a severe scenario. The findings show significant evidence of decline in economic growth and employment, with the decline harsher for the severe scenario. The microeconomic results show that the pandemic moves the income distribution curve such that more households fall under the poverty line while at the same time, inequality declines. The latter result is driven by the disproportionate decline in incomes of richer households while the poorest of the poor are cushioned by government social grants that are kept intact during the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic is still unfolding and its economic modelling as well as the data used to operationalise the model will need to be updated and improved upon as more information about the disease and the economy becomes available.     

泛太平洋战略经济伙伴关系协定对中国纺织品服装出口的潜在影响——基于一般均衡模型的评估

本文基于全球贸易分析(GTAP)一般均衡(CGE)模型,就TPP对中国纺织品服装出口的潜在影响进行了定量评估。研究结果表明,TPP实施后,在贸易转移效应和美洲及亚洲纺织品服装区域性生产贸易网络(RPTN)等因素的共同作用下,中国对美国、日本和北美自由贸易区(主要为加拿大)市场的服装出口将大幅减少;中国纺织品一定程度上可以享受越南和亚洲地区TPP成员对进口纺织品需求增加而带来的额外出口机会,但也将面临日本纺织品贸易转移效应的冲击;日本加入TPP对中国纺织品服装出口负面影响巨大。本文的研究内容和结论对于我国广大纺织服装出口企业了解TPP生效后出口环境的变化以及国家层面贸易、产业政策的制定具有重要的参考价值。     

National and Regional Impacts of an Increase in Value-Added Tax: A CGE Analysis for South Africa

The South African National Treasury expected a revenue shortfall of R48.2 billion in 2017/18 and proposed tax policy measures to raise an additional R36 billion in 2018/19. A key component to raise the additional revenue was a 1% point increase in the VAT rate to 15% effective from 1 April 2018. The increase in the VAT rate was not welcomed as it would increase the cost of living, especially for the poor. We investigate the potential economy-wide and regional impacts of raising VAT and increasing public spending on education and health. We do this by developing and applying a multi-regional model of the South African economy that includes detailed tax and spending features. In this model, when we increase VAT, the impacts are driven by the direct shock to the model, accompanied by differences in regional economic activity. We find that effects on GDP vary between regions but are generally negative.     

Sources of Growth and Structural Change in the Vietnamese Economy, 1996–2003: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis*

We use the MONASH‐VN model, a dynamic computable general equilibrium model of the Vietnamese economy, to investigate Vietnam's rapid growth and structural change over the period 1996 to 2003. We do this in two steps. First, we estimate changes in variables representing production technologies, consumer preferences, government policy and other structural features of the economy. Movements in these structural and policy variables are then used to explain the recent history of Vietnam's rapid growth and structural change. We find the most important sources of growth and change to be technical improvements, favorable shifts in foreign demand for Vietnamese goods and employment growth. Other important factors include movement in household preferences away from primary products and towards manufactures and services, expansion in agricultural land supply, and tax reform.     

A Report on the Impact of the Living Conditions Studies (LCS) on disability in southern Africa

ABSTRACT

The living conditions studies (LCS) on disability are a survey method that has been used in a standardised manner across eight countries in southern Africa. This paper discusses an evaluation of the LCS that were carried out between 2000 and 2015. The methodology of this evaluation was a desk top study as well as interviews with relevant stakeholders from each of the countries. Results of the desk top study show an upward trend in citations for countries which have been cited in the literature, and that the scholarly as well as the grey literature reveal a clear trend that certain countries tend to dominate in uptake coverage. Results from the interviews generally show that the surveys were accepted by all countries in a positive and favourable light. Each country, with their unique context, has their own story. Recommendations based on the evaluation are discussed.     

Impact of immigration on the Japanese economy: A multi-country simulation model

To quantify the impacts of immigration and fiscal reconstruction on the Japanese economy, we present a dynamic computable general equilibrium OLG model with an overlapping generations structure. We use a total of 16 countries and regions, both including those that are industrialized, such as Japan, the US, and the EU, and developing countries, such as China, Brazil, the Philippines, and Peru.Our simulation results show that a permanent immigration flows of 150,000 will improve the Japanese economy and the welfare of current and future generations. On the other hand, a standalone increase in the consumption tax will not improve long-run welfare. The results indicate that substantially increased inflows of working-age immigrants would alleviate the need for future fiscal reform and also help to dramatically reduce the public pension burden on the working generations.     

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.     

Poverty Effects of the Philippines’ Tariff Reduction Program: Insights from a Computable General Equilibrium Analysis*

A computable general equilibrium micro‐simulation model is used to assess the economic and poverty impacts of tariff reduction in the Philippines. Tariff reduction induces consumers to substitute cheaper imported agricultural products for domestic goods, thereby resulting in a contraction in agricultural output. In contrast, tariff reduction reduces the domestic cost of production, benefiting the outward‐oriented and import‐dependent industrial sector. The national poverty headcount decreases marginally as lower consumer prices outweigh the nominal income reduction experienced by the majority of households. However, both the poverty gap and severity of poverty worsens, implying that the poorest of the poor become even poorer.     

Effect of bilateral and multilateral concessional debts on public investment in Africa: A contingency analysis

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relative influence of bilateral and multilateral concessional debts on public investment in 32 sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1985–2020. Dynamic panel autoregressive distributed lag models comprising the mean group, pooled mean group and dynamic fixed effect estimators were employed in our model estimations. The results revealed that bilateral and multilateral concessional debts had a long-run positive and significant effect on public investment. The findings indicated that a 1% change in bilateral and multilateral concessional debt was associated with 8.6 and 11.3% increases in public investment, respectively. While the short-run influence of bilateral concessional debts was significantly positive, multilateral concessional debts had a short-run positive but insignificant effect on public investment. It is discovered that institutional quality is associated with declines in public investment. The contingency analysis shows that institutional quality explains a lot about how well bilateral and multilateral concessional debts drive public investment. The evidence suggests that poor institutional quality is more likely to undermine the effectiveness of bilateral concessional debts on productive investment than multilateral concessional debts.     

The Impact of Firm Size and Liquidity on the Cost of External Finance in Africa

Established illiquidity measures are constructed for emerging markets in Africa and used to determine which best explains trading costs. Costs of equity are derived from an augmented Capital Asset Pricing Model for a sample of emerging financial markets generally ignored in the literature. These include: South Africa and Namibia, three countries in North Africa and four in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA), plus London and Paris as examples of integrated markets. Minimum variance portfolios are constructed and asset weights derived, with the sample divided into countries dependent on their legal regime. Portfolio weights are shown to be directly related to well‐regulated markets with high standards of corporate governance and disclosure, and firms seeking cost‐effective finance from SSA stock markets are at a distinct disadvantage compared with those in Northern Africa, South Africa and, in particular, London and Paris.     

HIV/AIDS in the transport sector of southern Africa: Operational challenges,research gaps and policy recommendations

The transport sector is an integral element of southern Africa's economic development. The impact of HIV/AIDS on the region is therefore a major cause for concern. Using a method of triangulation, we used the findings of a comprehensive literature review, a stakeholder questionnaire and a United Nations regional workshop to take stock of the existing evidence linking HIV/AIDS to the transport sector. This paper outlines the strategies used to address HIV/AIDS by a range of stakeholders in the road, maritime, aviation and railway transport sectors. It highlights regional, national, and intervention-specific good practice examples in the field, suggesting key research gaps and putting forward policy recommendations for the region. As a result, national action plans will hopefully be able to benefit from this knowledge-sharing, enhanced regional cooperation and implementation of more effective responses to the epidemic in this critical sector.     

A Tale of Two Countries and Two Stages: South Africa,China and the Lewis Model

The paper compares the economic progress of two countries, South Africa and China, in relation to the Lewis model. These economies are chosen because they have interesting similarities and also interesting differences. At the start of economic reform in China and with the advent of democracy in South Africa, both countries had surplus labour: they were at the first, labour-surplus, stage of the Lewis model. It is shown that, since then, South Africa has continued to experience surplus labour: the unemployment rate has risen. By contrast, China’s labour market is shown to have tightened, and there is evidence that China has entered the second, labour-scarce, stage of the Lewis model. The difference lies in their growth rates. There are sections explaining why the South African economy has grown slowly and why the Chinese economy has grown rapidly, in relation to the growth of their labour forces. The Lewis model provides an enlightening framework for explaining how widely the fruits of economic development can be shared.     

The Effects of Remittances on Output per Worker in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Production Function Approach

This paper uses a production function to examine the channels through which remittances affect output per worker in 31 Sub‐Saharan African countries from 1980 to 2010. Lagged remittances increase physical capital per worker, average years of schooling and total factor productivity, but the effectiveness of remittances varies with the income level of the recipient nation. Although remittances have increased both physical capital and total factor productivity among the upper middle income nations, among the lower middle income, they have increased only the physical capital. Meanwhile a reduction in institutional risk has encouraged investment and efficiency, but its relationship to the effectiveness of remittances has been inconclusive.