ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The central question that this research report attempts to answer is how southern African countries can leapfrog from agrarian to knowledge-based economies. There is no single answer to this question, but rather a complex solution. This can best be answered using scenario...

Regional integration through trade is recognized as one way to foster economic growth and poverty reduction. This paper uses the gravity model and 11-year panel data (1996-2006) on Southern African Development Community (SADC) member countries to study Zambia’s regional agricultural trade...

'Internet' and 'e-business' are words that have become part of today's business world. Invariably we hear of the effect thereof on the way we used to do things, due to the shift in paradigm from command and control to a more open globalised, multi-polar world. Traditional ways of doing business...

This study tests the theory that currency crises are associated with sudden large changes in the structure of foreign exchange market volatility. Due to increases in market uncertainty, crisis periods exhibit abnormally high levels of volatility. By studying short-term changes in volatility...

Price stability is widely recognised as the primary goal of modern monetary policy, and the management of private sector inflation expectations has become an essential channel through which this goal is achieved. This evaluation aims to improve the understanding of how the sensitivity of private...

The inflation expectations channel of the transmission mechanism is generally recognised as crucial for the implementation of modern monetary policy. This paper briefly reviews the practices commonly employed for measuring inflation expectations in South Africa, and offers an additional method,...

First, a cost-benefit analysis is presented of reconstructing the existing road section between Gobabis and Otjinene in Namibia. Second, a cost-benefit analysis is presented of constructing a new direct road link between Otjinene and Grootfontein, coupled with the above-mentioned road upgrading...

The study seeks to re-investigate the role of price, income and health awareness in the evolution of South African cigarette demand over the period 1996 to 2006. At first glance, rising cigarette prices appear to have played an important role in reducing cigarette consumption over the sample...

This paper uses a structural vector-autoregression approach to discuss the cyclicality of fiscal and monetary policy in South Africa since 1994. There is substantial South African literature on this topic, but much disagreement remains. Though not undisputed, there is growing consensus that...

We examine how corporate governance indicators such as board size, board composition and CEO duality impact on financing decisions of firms. Panel data covering the five year period 1999-2003 from forty-seven (47) listed firms on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) was used. Analysis was done...