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The adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global tourism industry necessitated several responses from policymakers in order to support the industry's recovery and post-pandemic growth. Southern Africa hosts tourism-sensitive and connected economies, with many tourists who arrive in one country, often visiting neighbouring countries. Using the United Nations World Tourism Organisation's policy framework for COVID-19 mitigation, recovery, and stability for the tourism industry, this paper critically examined the Southern Africa's level of support for mitigating the impact of the pandemic and their recovery strategies for the tourism industry. Data were collected from publicly available policy and strategic documents. Findings reveal non-compliance to referenced benchmarks, lack of regional policy direction from SADC, and divergent levels of support among the member countries. The paper recommends, among others, a revision of the SADC's regional tourism programme, collaborative tourism governance through increased regional integration, and improved destination attractiveness of the Southern African region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to ignite a conversation on the challenges of the ongoing 'novel' surrounding the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic in the Southern Africa region. The global COVID-19 pandemic started with the outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It is understood that different countries, regions and territories will have different, context-specific challenges in fighting the pandemic. These will differ from country to country and therefore necessitates contextual research. By sharing African perspectives on swift action against this coronavirus, this paper is intended to appraise the nexus between the coronavirus and tourism in order to prepare tourism practitioners for the recovery strategies that will be needed to address the damages caused by the pandemic. This paper points to tourism researchers focusing on the Southern African region and possible key areas for further research as the coronavirus situation unfolds. It draws from published material and document analysis, including from academic research, media reports and social media platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional industrialisation and integration form part of the economic policy priorities of a number of countries in Southern Africa and of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Manufacturing can be seen as a key driver of domestic and regional industrialisation and growth, given its ability to exhibit high backward and forward input-output linkages. While most input-output research for African countries explores domestic input-output linkages, this paper investigates inter-country intersectoral linkages among five Southern African countries for the years 2000 and 2015. We find that linkages tend to be highest in the manufacturing sector, particularly in 'food and beverages', across the countries in the study. We also find that the highest inter-country linkages are found between neighbouring countries. These findings suggest that regional growth may benefit from promoting manufacturing, especially agro-processing sectors. Regional integration may benefit from a specific focus on bilateral relationships between neighbouring countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant studies on the relationship between financial development and inequality have largely adopted single financial indicators especially the private credit/GDP. Unlike these works, the present study adopts a robust total financial development indicator based on four mainstays of financial development of financial deepening, efficiency, stability and access following the World Bank recommendation on the measurement of financial development. Using this measure, the paper examines the relationship in 40 African countries. The empirical results confirm the findings of extant studies that the ratio of private credit to GDP increases inequality in high, middle-low and low-income countries. The total financial development, however, reports mixed evidence. While this measure reduces inequality in high and middle-low income countries, it does not affect inequality in low-income countries. Also, the study finds evidence of a nonlinear relationship only among the low-income countries. The paper recommends that policymakers should formulate wholesome policies that cut across all mainstays of financial development to reduce inequality, particularly, in high and middle-low African countries. Also, policymakers are advised to increase growth in low-income countries so that financial development could reduce inequality. At most, these countries should pay less attention to financial development for inequality-reduction policies among low-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in average wage are usually attributed to technological change in the past industrial revolutions. With the emergence and gradual explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) in the 4th industrial revolution, this paper applies panel vector autoregressive technique, with annual data from the World Bank and global economy from 2004 to 2017, to examine the effect of artificial intelligence on average wages in Southern Africa. Findings from the study show that artificial intelligence has a significant negative relationship with average wages but is positively associated with gross domestic product per capita (GDPC), unemployment and inflation. The study also finds inflation and GDPC to be positively associated with average wage. Based on the finding, policy direction focusing on wage stabilisation, redistribution of income, advance learning and skill development training that promote competitiveness to computerisation is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of technological innovation on economic growth has received significant attention in the developed world over the last decades due to its speedy development and potential impacts. However, little is known in the context of developing countries, arguably due to data challenges. This paper uses panel dynamic Ordinary Least Square regression with annual data from the World Bank and global economy (2004-17) to examine the empirical link between technological innovation and economic growth in Southern Africa. The study finds that technological innovation indicators such as researchers in research and development, graduates from information and communication technology, patents-nonresidents, graduates from science, technology, engineering and mathematics and scientific and technical outputs have significant positive relationship with per capita economic growth in the long run, but no relationship exists for patents-residents and government expenditure with per capita economic growth. Based on the findings, policy intervention and strategies that promote these indicators are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ineffectiveness of enterprise policy in some southern Africa's rural areas has led to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) attempting to increase their political influence by engaging in the enterprise policy process. This paper examines the case of one NGO from one of the poorest southern African countries – Zimbabwe – in order to bring insights to its role as policy influencer in the regional approaches of enterprise policy-making. The paper argues that an understanding of such role requires the appreciation of how people and organisations are embedded to their contexts. The evidence suggests that in the case study the NGO's role is only modest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the factors affecting the growth of one of the fastest growing export sectors in Africa – gold from the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector. The artisanal gold mining sector was largely illegal in most African countries until the 1990s and has grown from virtually nothing to exports of at least 446 tonnes of gold worth approximately US$17.94 billion to Dubai in 2016, with some 10 million Africans working in these often hazardous mines, up from approximately 1.8 million in 1999. The study investigates the pull and push factors affecting the sector using different quantitative estimates of the size of the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of inclusive growth (IG), a critical research question is: What adjustments to the growth process are necessary to ensure inclusive development? In attempting to answer this question, the paper investigates the concept of inclusive growth from different perspectives and examines the challenges and policy priorities for inclusive growth in the African context. Essential components of inclusive growth are identified. Given the promise it holds to help overcome the pressing obstacles of poverty, unemployment and inequality in a broad-based manner, IG is seen as instrumental in increasing Africa's economic inclusivity. The question of how inclusive the growth of African economies ought to be, is essential for ensuring sustainable development, considering rising population growth rates. The paper makes a contribution to mapping the way forward towards reaching this goal. Key findings are a reinterpretation of genuine growth and how inclusivity criteria can be used to achieve it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we construct a composite social well-being index to investigate disparities between 30 African countries. We do this because previous inequality studies relied on income measures; however, when it comes to Africa, specifically, income is not an adequate measure to capture well-being. Furthermore, we apply the recentered influence function (RIF) method to regress the variance of social well-being on likely influencing factors. Lastly, we use the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition technique to investigate the gap between countries with higher, and those with lower levels of social well-being. The results indicate that there are high levels of inequality; however, the inequality in social well-being is less stark than in income. Factors that are significantly related to inequality are employment, gender equality, exports, CO2 emissions, population density, public protests, capital investment, and internet access. The gap that exists between higher and lower social well-being countries is mainly due to the endowment effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistent gender gaps characterise labour markets in many African countries. Utilising Eswatini's first three labour market surveys (conducted in 2007, 2010, and 2013), this paper provides first systematic evidence on the country's gender gaps in employment and earnings. We find that women have notably lower employment rates and earnings than men, even though the global financial crisis had a less negative impact on women than it had on men. Both unadjusted and unexplained gender earnings gaps are higher in self-employment than in wage employment. Tertiary education and urban location account for a large part of the gender earnings gap and mitigate high female propensity to self-employment. Our findings suggest that policies supporting female higher education and rural-urban mobility could reduce persistent inequalities in Eswatini's labour market outcomes as well as in other middle-income countries in southern Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corporate income tax (CIT) systems of developing countries can potentially be contributors or impediments to their economic development. This is especially relevant in the SADC region that has a set agenda regarding regional integration goals, and where the guiding principle is tax harmonisation that benefits all members through tax reform efforts. Despite the importance of the topic, empirical literature remains scant, and this paper attempted to revisit the CIT determinants in the SADC region. Having a larger database at their disposal, the authors could update the existing empirical literature. The sample period of the study included the commodity booms and slumps following the global financial crises, and illustrated the varying fortunes of developing countries in general, and the SADC specifically. Furthermore, given the lower economic growth, together with the variable commodity prices since 2008, there is a concern that corporate tax revenue may continue to erode. A cross-section panel was utilised to determine those factors that may best explain changes in corporate taxes in Southern Africa over the period of time from 1980 to 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the range of functions undertaken by the University of Fort Hare (UFH) over its 100-year history and in what ways it has carried these out. Drawing on the framework developed by Castells on the functions performed by universities, the paper shows that UFH’s role in three of these functions - namely, in the production of values for individuals and social legitimation for the state, in the formation of the dominant elite, and in the training of the labour force - has shifted and changed along with the different imperatives and conditions of the colonial, apartheid and post-1994 democratic eras in South Africa. By contrast, UFH’s role in the production of scientific knowledge is a relatively recent development, but one which has strengthened rapidly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional integration is making steady progress in Africa and a key objective is to improve the prospects for industrialisation by expanding the regional market. The paper draws on a combination of trade data analysis and industry case studies to better understand the links and synergies between regional value chains and regional integration. The trade data and case studies of two diverse sectors (garments and food retailing) demonstrate the expansion and diversity of regional trade and regional value chains in Ssouthern Africa. This increasingly diverse composition of regional exports is suggestive of an opportunity to further enhance industrial development through intra-regional trade. From a political economy perspective, the long term sustainability of Southern African regionalism will require that the benefits are widely spread. In turn this requires the recognition of the importance of regional industrial policy, which takes account of the dynamics driving global and regional value chains and facilitates regional linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The living conditions studies (LCS) on disability are a survey method that has been used in a standardised manner across eight countries in southern Africa. This paper discusses an evaluation of the LCS that were carried out between 2000 and 2015. The methodology of this evaluation was a desk top study as well as interviews with relevant stakeholders from each of the countries. Results of the desk top study show an upward trend in citations for countries which have been cited in the literature, and that the scholarly as well as the grey literature reveal a clear trend that certain countries tend to dominate in uptake coverage. Results from the interviews generally show that the surveys were accepted by all countries in a positive and favourable light. Each country, with their unique context, has their own story. Recommendations based on the evaluation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban agriculture has long been endorsed as a means to promote food security and economic wellbeing in African cities. However, the South African context presents mixed results. In order to establish the contributions of urban agriculture to sustainable livelihoods, the sustainable livelihoods framework is applied to a case study on cultivators from Cape Town's Cape Flats. This study contributes to the empirical literature on urban agriculture by providing a deeper understanding of the benefits cultivators themselves attribute to urban agriculture. The key finding is that cultivators use urban agriculture in highly complex ways to build sustainable livelihoods. NGOs are central to this process. Distrust, crime and a lack of resources are, however, limiting factors. The paper concludes with policy recommendations to support pro-poor urban agriculture in African urban centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores which African countries had relatively low rates of underweight children and relatively high birth coverage (percentage of births with a skilled attendant) in the poorest quintile. Swaziland and Rwanda emerged as relatively ‘pro-poor’ in that both measures were more than one standard deviation better than predicted by GDP per capita. Unlike Swaziland, Rwanda’s status as an outlier was eliminated in regressions controlling also for urbanisation, medical professionals per 1000 people and health spending, suggesting that its pro-poor outcomes were related to these factors. AIDS funding may have helped Swaziland provide primary health care to the poor, but its high birth coverage preceded the HIV epidemic. Although relatively pro-poor in international terms, Swaziland and Rwanda emerged as relatively unequal by the CIX measure of health inequality with regard to percentage of underweight children across quintiles. It is important not to conflate relatively equal with relatively pro-poor health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]