This paper presents an analysis of the interaction of human capital investment and the development of social and political institutions. We find that human capital matters—for growth through its quality dimension; for distributional conflict by raising political aspirations. But human capital...

The recent economic performance of Sub Saharan Africa has been very disappointing. Its poverty has many dimensions and causes, both internal and external. This paper focuses on the role of institutions in promoting or hindering economic development in Africa and the implications for doing...

South Africa is a water-stressed country that over a protracted period has suffered from poor water service delivery. The major problems are inefficient operations, lack of capacity in spending allocated budgets, unclear management structures, and a long term decline in capital expenditure....

Over the past decade, economics departments in South Africa have seen major changes and a certain level of disruption. Much of this can be attributed to the integration of our discipline into the global arena after a period of academic isolation. This paper presents a survey of economics...

Takes issue with the way in which economics deals with the state and assumes homogeneous capacity. Instead it argues that differences in growth rates between countries can be traced back to the capacity of the state and political system. A state that is relatively capable is able to provide a...