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“Roads to Riches”: The Infrastructure-Property Development Nexus in South Africa
(2026) Jelley, Bruce; Albertus, Rene
This minor dissertation investigates the nexus between public-sector infrastructure spending and new property formation, a proxy for economic growth, at the regional level in South Africa. This relationship is critical to sustainable economic growth and to achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. While the global literature highlights infrastructure as a catalyst for growth, empirical findings have become increasingly contested, particularly at the regional level, where spatial disparities, baseline infrastructure gaps, and fiscal inefficiencies prevail. In South Africa, inadequate infrastructure and declining service delivery have constrained property development, raising questions about whether state-led investment meaningfully stimulates construction activity and economic growth. The study adopts a positivist quantitative approach, applying an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to quarterly provincial and national data from 2011-2025. This period captures weak and uneven post-2011 growth, technical recessionary episodes, the COVID-19 contraction, and the broader institutional context associated with state capture. Building plan approvals serve as a forward-looking proxy for new property formation, rather than a direct measure of completed construction, with public sector infrastructure expenditure as the primary explanatory variable alongside other determinants of property formation, including prime lending rates, inflation, foreign direct investment, and working-age population. The methodology accounts for both short-run dynamics and long-run equilibrium relationships, supported by unit-root testing, bounds testing, and residual diagnostics to ensure robustness. Findings reveal statistically significant long-run relationships between infrastructure spending and new property formation across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape, with elasticities ranging from 0.44% to 0.53% for every 1% increase in public sector infrastructure spending. These elasticities are economically meaningful but moderate, suggesting that infrastructure expenditure is an important enabling condition rather than a complete explanation of property-sector growth. Short-run results show more nuanced regional differences, including counterintuitive positive effects of higher lending rates in KwaZulu-Natal. Inflationary pressures dampen activity in certain provinces, while foreign direct investment shows limited explanatory power, contrary to classical FDI-growth theory.
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Open Access
The economic burden of diagnostic pathways: An analysis of patients costs at the Rapid Access Diagnostic Lymph Adenopathy Clinic (RADLAC) at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa
(2026) Byaruhanga, Christine; Cunnama, Lucy; Paidamoyo, Bodzo
Globally, cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity, with the greatest burden in low- and middle-income countries where approximately 65% -70% of deaths occur. Cancer is the non-communicable disease most likely to lead to catastrophic health expenditure. This can occur at any phase along the continuum of cancer care. There exists a gap in the literature on expenditures incurred prior to receiving a diagnosis. Delays in receiving a diagnosis may lead to adverse health outcomes along the cancer care continuum; moreover, in some cases, these delays can cause financial distress for the individual and household. The Rapid Access Diagnostic LymphAdenopathy Clinic (RADLAC) was established to enable rapid diagnosis of patients with lymphadenopathy. The opening of this clinic provided a chance to understand the types, magnitude, and drivers of cancer-related costs for patients seeking a diagnosis as well as their households. The aim of this study was to analyse patient costs associated with seeking a diagnosis at the RADLAC at Groote Schuur Hospital, a tertiary academic hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. The objectives of the study were to calculate the direct and indirect costs related to diagnosis for patients attending the RADLAC. The study also measured the intangible dimension of pain. Coping strategies used by patients to cover costs were also investigated. The study was a cross-sectional patient cost analysis. Data were collected from consenting newly referred and previously referred adult patients. A structured questionnaire collecting direct (medical and non-medical) and indirect costs was used to collect data via in-person interviews. Pain was measured using the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), which has been validated for South African use, to capture the intangible dimension associated with lymphadenopathy (LAP). Data was collected in REDCap and analysed using Stata18. Patient costs were calculated up to the point of diagnosis. We found that patients incurred significant direct costs prior to attending the clinic, with out-of-pocket (OOP) payments spent on general practitioners and transport costs making up the majority of these expenses. For some individuals, monthly transport costs to RADLAC accounted for 15% of their monthly expenditure. Patients also lost earnings whilst seeking a diagnosis with 29% reporting lost earnings from attending the RADLAC. Most patients had informal caregivers who lost a significant proportion of their daily wages each time they had to accompany the patient to seek health care services. Of the patients who had someone accompany them to the clinic, 44% of them reported lost earnings on that day Patients coped with the costs of health care using a multitude of strategies. Almost 80% of low-income households reduced spending on other household categories to pay for health care costs. It was observed that many individuals also borrowed from informal lenders who charged interest rates as high as 50%. Pain caused by lymphadenopathy was a common symptom reported by patients. Most patients reported that the pain due to lymphadenopathy and/or its accompanying symptoms interfered with their daily functioning. In addition, pain also affected their sleep and their enjoyment of life. In some cases, patients had to incur additional direct medical costs to manage lymphadenopathy-associated pain, i.e., additional trips to the pharmacy for pain medication. South Africa has pledged to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI). Comprehensive financial risk protection is critical to achieving UHC and relates to the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goal 3. Direct and indirect costs of seeking a diagnosis influence health-seeking behaviours and influence health outcomes. Despite care being free at the point of service at primary health care facilities in South Africa, patients incur substantial direct non-medical costs in the form of transport costs. Indirect costs in the form of foregone wages are also incurred each time care is sought, and these losses account for a significant proportion of patients' monthly income. Further costs may be incurred when accessing secondary or tertiary facilities rather than primary health facilities. Comprehensive health, social, and economic policies are needed to ensure that patients are adequately protected from the costs of illness, particularly the costs associated with cancer diagnosis and care.
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Open Access
Social safety nets and household vulnerability to income shocks and food insecurity among poor households in Malawi
(2026) Chibade, Evans; Alhassan, Abdul Latif
This study assesses the effectiveness of formal and informal social safety nets (SSNs) in reducing household vulnerability to income shocks and enhancing food security among poor households in Malawi. Utilizing data from the Fifth Integrated Household Survey, the research employs a set of econometric models, including the multivariate probit, Poisson regression, Tobit and ordered logit, to analyze the impact of social safety nets on three key outcomes: participation in income-generating activities, household food consumption expenditure, and multidimensional food security indicators, including Household Dietary Diversity Score, Reduced Coping Strategies Index, Food Consumption Score, and Food Insecurity Experience Scale. The findings reveal that government cash transfers are effective in stimulating investment in productive income-generating activities like livestock and non-farm businesses, thereby enhancing dietary diversity and food consumption scores. Both formal and informal social safety nets play a crucial role in consumption smoothing and reducing reliance on negative coping strategies. A critical finding is that households acting as providers of support within informal networks exhibit significantly greater resilience and food security than those solely receiving aid. However, the transformative potential of SSNs is constrained by structural factors: Urban residence, mobile phone ownership, and diversified livelihoods are key determinants of resilience. The study concludes that while SSNs are essential for immediate welfare and protection, achieving sustainable poverty reduction requires integrating them with complementary "cash-plus" interventions, such as access to extension services and market linkages, to address the underlying causes of vulnerability.
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Open Access
The inverse farm size relationship revisited: a productivity benchmarking analysis of South African land reform beneficiaries
(2026) Chew, Euan; Conradie, Beatrice
This paper presents a novel application of the non-monotonic Stochastic Frontier model of Wang (2002) to South African agriculture in order to investigate the inverse farm size relationship. Using data for 1989 beneficiary farms from the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy programme, the marginal effects of farm size, managerial capacity and extension frequency on inefficiency and output are estimated and the effect of the Recapitalisation and Development programme evaluated. The estimated results demonstrate that increased farm size is associated with decreasing returns to inefficiency reduction. For livestock farms beyond 2 415 ha land is no longer significant in affecting inefficiency. For mixed farms, the marginal effect of land in decreasing inefficiency is negatively correlated with farm size. For livestock farms in the 90th and 95th percentile of farm size, the marginal effect of increasing farm size is an increase in inefficiency although this effect is not significant. The nonlinearity of the marginal effects of farm size justifies adopting the non-monotonic Stochastic Frontier approach to model the inverse relationship.
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Open Access
Are Pro-Social Organisations at an Advantage When Seeking Talent? An Exploration of Future Graduates' Attraction Toward Living Wage Employers
(2026) Baron, Hunter; Meyer, Ines
The benefits of Living Wages, which is pay for work which is high enough to make it possible for its recipient and their family to live a humble but decent life, have been well documented in literature for those who receive them. The possible reputational benefits arising from organisations offering a wage floor at or above LW level have received less attention. This study sought to contribute empirical insights into one such potential benefit, namely a living wage employer's greater attractiveness among soon-to-be graduates. The research addressed to what extent graduate job applicants prefer to work for employers paying a LW by locating LWs as an aspect of Internal Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). To investigate this, choicebased methods were employed. In an online survey a sample of N = 125 university students indicated which of two organisations described in writing they would prefer to work for. In total, each participant received eight sets of organisational pairs based on a 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 attribute design matrix, thus providing eight choices. Alongside this, participants completed an equity sensitivity scale. The organisations differed in the degree to which they engaged in environmental and financial social responsibility (high or low engagement), whether they were a living wage employer or not, and in the salary they offered for the role (at living wage level or slightly higher). Conditional logit regressions were used to identify whether differing attributes and attribute levels significantly influenced organisational attraction. Drawing on CSR theory, signalling theory, and a perceptive organisational justice framework, it was hypothesised that potential future graduates would prefer to work for organisations known to engage in pro-social behaviours, and that individual difference factors such as preference for pay, equity sensitivity, and subject of study as a proxy of social domination orientation may affect this relationship. Results indicated that organisations offering living wages were significantly more attractive to prospective graduates than those that did not. Environmental CSR also positively influenced attractiveness, whereas economic CSR showed no significant effect. Organisations engaging in a broader range of CSR practices were perceived as more attractive overall, and the effect of living wage provision on attractiveness exceeded that of other CSR attributes. While base pay level significantly influenced organisational choice it did not attenuate the attraction effect of an organisational living wage policy. Neither differences in equity sensitivity, or academic discipline had a significant effect on participants choices. The results of the study suggest that the provision of an organisational living wage, may provide a significant improvement to organisational attractiveness for soon-to-be graduates in the South African context.