Services are the fastest growing portion of world trade and now account for nearly a quarter of global exports. This presents opportunities for emerging economies to adapt and enter new markets. Many countries in southern Africa have struggled to diversify from a heavy reliance on primary...

Rates of HIV infection in Southern Africa are reaching levels yet to be reported elsewhere in the world. HIV prevalence rates exceed 30 percent among pregnant women attending urban and peri-urban facilities in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The highest prevalence rates of HIV infection...

This paper explores the potential to leverage large-scale mineral extraction in Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to foster mineral beneficiation and upstream industries. The evidence suggests that the success or failure of a resource-based industrialization approach is country and sector specific,...

Legislation providing for limited partnerships was enacted in the Cape and Natal colonies during the second half of that century. Although the Cape and Natal enactments were eventually repealed more than a century later, the importance of these colonial statutes should not be ignored or...

Evidence indicates that trade costs are a much more substantial barrier to trade than tariffs are, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper decomposes trade costs into: (i) trade facilitation, (ii) non-tariff barriers, and (iii) the costs of business services. The paper assesses the poverty...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had severe economic consequences in Southern Africa, resulting in an unprecedented decline in production and employment. Similar policy responses have emerged across the region, centred on temporary and inadequate relief for workers and businesses; very limited fiscal...