The impressive economic growth record of Thailand before 1997 was dominated by the increasing importance of modern industrialization, as well as the expansion of other sectors. This occured at the expense of agriculture, which accounts for the largest employment pool.

We use a modified gravity model to estimate the relationship between trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). We find evidence of a significant causal relationship from SADC?s exports to inward FDI. Distance (reflecting remoteness and...

Scholars and policy makers believe that democracy will bring prosperity through integration into the global economy via increased international trade. This study tests two theories as to why democracies might trade more. First, political freedom may be correlated with economic freedom, thus...

Bilateral trade of geographically distant countries is likely to be negatively affected by the distance separating them from their trading partners and positively affected by their remoteness, defined as the average weighted distance between two countries with weights reflecting the absorptive...

China?s engagement in the so-called international fragmentation of production ? namely ?cross-border dispersion of component production/assembly within vertically integrated manufacturing industries? ? has become an increasingly important form of its economic integration into the regional as...

South Africa has exhibited tepid economic growth over the past twenty years as well as high levels of income inequality characteristic of a middle income country growth trap. This paper compares and contrasts South Africa.s growth trap relative to middle

The democratic government in South Africa has developed a system of social grants to combat the high levels of poverty and inequality inherited from the apartheid regime. With the help of modest economic growth and an associated increase in per capita hou

Vocational training programmes, like South Africa.s learnership programme, which combine classroom learning and on-the-job training seem like the type of intervention which can create skills, get young people into jobs quicker, and reduce youth unemployme

This paper provides a historical overview of the South African trade union movement, followed by a brief discussion of the labour market legislation and institutions formed since 1994. Thereafter, a detailed evaluation of the impact of trade unions, legis