Browsing by Author "van der Berg, Servaas"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Devising social security interventions for maximum poverty impact
    (2002) van der Berg, Servaas; Bredenkamp, Caryn
    Social security, designed to provide protection against various contingencies, is not well suited to the elimination or redress of large-scale, endemic poverty, nor is it effective against the deep poverty caused by events such as the Great Depression. Social security on its own cannot overcome poverty of this magnitude, particularly in developing countries. For reasons of fiscal and administrative capacity, inter alia, social security usually expands through piecemeal reforms rather than through grand schemes. The basic income grant was, in its conception, just such a grand scheme and its proponents' untempered enthusiasm has unfortunately done harm to the cause of social security's realistic expansion. Now even the Taylor Committee, after initial enthusiasm, has accepted that a basic income grant is not viable. And so the time has come to return to the job at hand for social security: to painstaking and piecemeal analysis, to the careful weighing of alternatives, and to informed debate. This article attempts to contribute to this end. We show that the South African social security system, though very advanced for a country at this level of per capita income, still has pervasive gaps in its coverage and is close to the limits of its capacities. Yet the Constitution obliges government to work towards the progressive expansion of social security and in this article we support incremental and targeted social security interventions as the strategy most likely to contribute to poverty reduction. We use an analysis of 1995 income distribution data to assist us in identifying where such social security interventions are most likely to have a significant poverty alleviating effect.
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    Education and Socio-Economic Differentials: A Study of School Performance in the Western Cape
    (2003-03) van der Berg, Servaas; Burger, Ronelle
    Not surprisingly, the education system is widely perceived to be the major tool to overcome human capital and labour market inequalities in South Africa. This paper asks how well the education system accomplishes this goal. The first part of the paper examines human capital differentials between races and provides evidence of persistent race-based educational attainment and quality differentials.
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    Emergent Black Affluence and Social Mobility in Post-Apartheid South Africa
    (2004-11) Burger, Rulof; Burger, Ronelle; van der Berg, Servaas
    Firstly, the paper at tempts to identify the features that distinguish the affluent and specifically the black affluent from the rest of the population with a descriptive analysis. The paper investigates how affluence predictors vary between different race groups. It shows a dramatic increase in black affluence.
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    The Present as a Legacy of the Past: The Labour Market, Inequality and Poverty in South Africa
    (1999-08) van der Berg, Servaas; Bhorat, Haroon
    This paper provides an analysis of poverty in South Africa by focussing on the labour market. It seeks to understand inequality and poverty in contemporary South Africa by analysing the main factors that have contributed to these socio-economic outcomes. The paper shows that poverty and inequality are still widespread in South Africa, and have their origins in the labour market.
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    Social Policy to Address Poverty
    (1999-08) van der Berg, Servaas
    This paper provides an analysis of the role of social policies in alleviating poverty in South Africa. In doing so, the paper assesses the contribution of education and social security in reducing poverty in the country.
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    Trends in Poverty and Inequality Since the Political Transition
    (2006-03) van der Berg, Servaas; Burger, Ronelle; Burger, Rulof; Louw, Megan; Yu, Derek
    Using a constructed data series and another data series based on the All Media and Products surveys (AMPS), this paper explores trends in poverty and income distribution over the post-transition period. To steer clear of an unduly optimistic conclusion, assumptions are chosen that would tend to show the least decline in poverty.