'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,...

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...

Based on the Bureau of Economic Research (BER's) 2005 HIV/AIDS survey, this paper provides a snapshot view of the nature and the extent of the impact of HIV/AIDS on companies of different sizes in South Africa, as well as their response to the epidemic. Whereas the focus of most of the previous...

Infrastructure investment, especially in South Africa, is currently at the forefront of policy and public debate. But the term 'infrastructure' has a variety of definitions and interpretations; the reason for the various definitions is related to infrastructure's various impacts and incidence....

Water demand management is a key focus area for most water managers and even more so in developing countries since improved access to water is important to the poor. Different policies have been introduced to ensure a water management system th at cares for the poor, among them the Increasing...