Drawing on survey data from 1995, this article shows that the level of aggregation is an important component in the analysis of poverty. Utilising the Headcount Index and cumulative distribution functions, the article examines earnings among individuals and households. Specifically, it is shown...

The welfare challenges in post-apartheid South Africa are best represented by the triumvirate of poverty, income inequality and unemployment. In turn, the one generally accepted mechanism for overcoming these challenges is for an economy to realise sustained levels of high economic growth....

This study evaluates the impact of South Africa's long-term economic growth on household poverty and inequality between 1995 and 2005. We find a decline in aggregate levels of poverty, but increasing levels of inequality. The evidence suggests that the growth model provides substantial...

One of the key interventions aimed at improving the welfare of South African households has been local government's provision of a package of free basic municipal services to poor households. It is, however, not completely clear how different municipalities identify households that are eligible...

Existing studies on shifts in income welfare in South Africa since the demise of apartheid suggest that income inequality increased, while headcount poverty rates declined since 2000, after some evidence of an increase or no change in poverty in the 1995--2000 and 1996--2001 periods. This study...

This article utilises a class of poverty measures to determine the potential cost to the fiscus, in 1995 rands, of alleviating poverty in South Africa. The simulations are undertaken for both households and individuals according to the different covariates of poverty. The study found that the...