University of Bath, UK - Who wants to be a billionaire? Most don’t – which is good news for the planet

Title:

Who wants to be a billionaire? Most don’t – which is good news for the planet 

 

Published:

University of Bath, 16 June 2022 [Last updated 17 June 2022]

https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/who-wants-to-be-a-billionaire-most-dont-which-is-good-news-for-the-planet/

 

From the press release:

A new study busts the long-held economic belief that humans are all motivated to want more and more, which could be important for sustainability policies.

 

University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa - UP EXPERT OPINION: South Africa’s economic growth affected by mismatch of electricity supply and demand

Title:

UP EXPERT OPINION: South Africa’s economic growth affected by mismatch of electricity supply and demand

 

Authors:

Prof Roula inglesi-Lotz & Tichinashe (Tina) Mabugu

 

Published:

University of Pretoria (UP),  21 April 2022

https://www.up.ac.za/news/post_3061018-up-expert-opinion-south-africas-economic-growth-affected-by-mismatch-of-electricity-supply-and-demand

From the article:

The political and academic debates about electricity and economic growth have tended to focus on the impact of either generation capacity or demand and consumption. We wanted instead to explore the impact on economic growth of a mismatch of electricity supply and demand. We initially thought that any mismatch – a shortage or a surplus – would probably be bad for economic growth.

 

Our study covered the South African economy from 1985 to 2019.

 

Exchange rate misalignment, state fragility, and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa - by Brian Tavonga Mazorodze [Scholarly Article - Cogent Economics & Finance, 2021]

Title:

Exchange rate misalignment, state fragility, and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa

 

Author: 

Brian Tavonga Mazorodze

Department of  Economics, University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Reviewing editor:

Mariam Camarero

Universitat Jaume, Spain

Published:

Cogent Economics & Finance, published online: 12 March 2021

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23322039.2021.1898113

Abstract:

The sluggish and sometimes negative growth in sub-Saharan Africa has defined the objectives of most studies seeking to explain the sources of its slow growth. I contribute to this inquiry by estimating how state fragility influences the effect of exchange rate misalignment on economic growth. Since exchange rate misalignment captures the distortionary effects of inappropriate macroeconomic policies in the main, my hypothesis is that resilient and less fragile states cope better with macroeconomic imbalances making misaligned exchange rates less likely to have serious effects on growth in such countries. In testing this hypothesis, I first measure misalignment as deviations of the actual exchange rate from an estimated equilibrium level using the dynamic ordinary least squares method. I then insert this variable and its interaction with state fragility in a growth specification. In line with my hypothesis, results from the system generalised method of moments and data on 13 sub-Saharan countries observed between 2009 and 2018 show a significantly negative effect of exchange rate misalignment on growth that increases with state fragility. Based on this evidence, I urge countries in this region to improve state resilience as an effort to reduce the negative effect of exchange rate misalignment on economic growth.

THE WORLD BANK - World Development Report 2020: Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains

Title:

World Development Report 2020: Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains

 

Published:

The World Bank, 2020

https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2020

 

About:

"Global value chains (GVCs) powered the surge of international trade after 1990 and now account for almost half of all trade. This shift enabled an unprecedented economic convergence: poor countries grew rapidly and began to catch up with richer countries. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, however, the growth of trade has been sluggish and the expansion of GVCs has stalled. Meanwhile, serious threats have emerged to the model of trade-led growth. New technologies could draw production closer to the consumer and reduce the demand for labor. And conflicts among large countries could lead to a retrenchment or a segmentation of GVCs. The World Development Report (WDR) 2020: Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains examines whether there is still a path to development through GVCs and trade. It concludes that technological change is at this stage more a boon than a curse. GVCs can continue to boost growth, create better jobs, and reduce poverty provided that developing countries implement deeper reforms to promote GVC participation, industrial countries pursue open, predictable policies, and all countries revive multilateral cooperation."

World Development Report 2020 Press Release:

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Discussion by staff of the University of the Witwatersrand - South Africa needs to end the lockdown: here’s a blueprint for its replacement

Title:
South Africa needs to end the lockdown: here’s a blueprint for its replacement

Authors:
Shabir Madhi, Alex van den Heever, David Francis, Imraan Valodia, Martin Veller & Michael Sachs

Published:
The Conversation, 9 April 2020

From the article:
"The public debate on strategies to tackle COVID-19 often unhelpfully positions health and economic considerations in a diametric fashion – as trade-offs. In fact, economic policy has health consequences. And health policy has economic consequences. The two need to be seen as parts of a coherent whole.  

In the case of South Africa, the country currently faces three interrelated problems. These are the public health threat from the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic and health effects of the lockdown, and a range of intractable economic problems not directly due to the current pandemic. These include high unemployment, low economic growth and falling per capita income."

To read this article:
https://theconversation.com/south-africa-needs-to-end-the-lockdown-heres-a-blueprint-for-its-replacement-136080