How does the South African government react to changes in its debt position? In investigating the question, this paper estimates fiscal reaction functions using various methods (OLS, VAR, TAR, GMM, State-Space modelling and VECM). The paper finds that since 1946 the South African government has...

Capital investment is a key function of government. However, for a number of reasons it has proven difficult for governments to ensure that capital investment represents value for money, is affordable, and is budgeted and accounted for in a prudent and transparent manner. This article discusses...

This article argues the case for a policy of “anchored flexibility” in the form of a flexible fiscal rule that allows for the pursuit of economic stability but always anchors that pursuit in fiscal sustainability. The rule is explicitly structured to be simple and is designed in analogy to...

The public debt/GDP ratio in several countries showed the largest ever peacetime increase during the last 20 years of the twentieth century, thereby causing widespread fiscal unsustainability. Towards the latter half of the 1990s, several governments initiated steps to reverse this trend...

Over the past three decades many countries have struggled to find solutions to their persistent public sector deficits. For some the solution to this problem seemingly became the adoption of fiscal rules. This paper considers the applicability of one such rule, namely the output-sensitive...

During the last decade economic literature explored the presence of and reasons for what became known as "the great moderation" in the US and other G7 countries. "The great moderation" describes the decrease in economic volatility experienced in many of the G7 countries. This paper finds that in...

Governments increasingly use public-private partnerships (PPPs) to pursue value for money. However, value for money is (or at least, should be) the driving force behind traditional infrastructure procurement. Therefore, any project, whether it is a PPP or a traditionally procured project, should...

Developmental states are often associated with high economic growth. Japan, South Korea, China and Brazil are all examples, most of which grew at phenomenal rates. The National Development Plan in South Africa sets out the intention of the South African government to transform the government...