The impact of COVID-19 on inequality in South Africa
- Authors: Nyumbaiza, Peace Falina
- Date: 2023-03-31
- Subjects: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- Influence , Inequality , Labor market South Africa , Economic development South Africa , University of Cape Town. National Income Dynamics Study , Income distribution South Africa , Educational equalization South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/419514 , vital:71650
- Description: The COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns regarding its possible adverse income distributive consequences, and its different impact according to socioeconomic subgroups (Furceri et al. 2020). This research measures the impact of COVID-19 on inequality in South Africa. To do this the study uses the National Income Dynamic Study (NIDS) wave 5 (2018) and the National Income Dynamic Study Coronavirus Rapid Mobile (NIDS-CRAM) survey waves 1 – 5 (2020 - 2021) datasets to study income inequality in South Africa prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic until mid-2021. The factor method developed by Lerman and Yitzhaki’s (1985) is used to identify the overall contribution of the different factor sources to income inequality. Labour income is identified as the largest contributing factor and so labour income inequality is decomposed by income determinants using the regression-based decomposition method proposed by Fields (2003). The analysis reveals that labour income worsened during the periods of strictest COVID lockdown, before returning to pre-pandemic levels of inequality as lockdown was eased. Education is the most important determinant of labour income inequality across all time periods, particularly for White, urban and female participants. Although education remains a driving factor of labour income inequality during the national disaster, its contribution lessens as the economy starts recovering by March 2021. Consequently, the contributions of gender, race, age and region increase during the same period. Identifying whom the inequal impact of pandemic has affected worse offers insight that emphasizes the importance social grant systems to aid bridge the inequality gap associated with COVID-19. , Thesis (MEcon) -- Faculty of Commerce, Economics and Economics History, 2023
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- Authors: Nyumbaiza, Peace Falina
- Date: 2023-03-31
- Subjects: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- Influence , Inequality , Labor market South Africa , Economic development South Africa , University of Cape Town. National Income Dynamics Study , Income distribution South Africa , Educational equalization South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/419514 , vital:71650
- Description: The COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns regarding its possible adverse income distributive consequences, and its different impact according to socioeconomic subgroups (Furceri et al. 2020). This research measures the impact of COVID-19 on inequality in South Africa. To do this the study uses the National Income Dynamic Study (NIDS) wave 5 (2018) and the National Income Dynamic Study Coronavirus Rapid Mobile (NIDS-CRAM) survey waves 1 – 5 (2020 - 2021) datasets to study income inequality in South Africa prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic until mid-2021. The factor method developed by Lerman and Yitzhaki’s (1985) is used to identify the overall contribution of the different factor sources to income inequality. Labour income is identified as the largest contributing factor and so labour income inequality is decomposed by income determinants using the regression-based decomposition method proposed by Fields (2003). The analysis reveals that labour income worsened during the periods of strictest COVID lockdown, before returning to pre-pandemic levels of inequality as lockdown was eased. Education is the most important determinant of labour income inequality across all time periods, particularly for White, urban and female participants. Although education remains a driving factor of labour income inequality during the national disaster, its contribution lessens as the economy starts recovering by March 2021. Consequently, the contributions of gender, race, age and region increase during the same period. Identifying whom the inequal impact of pandemic has affected worse offers insight that emphasizes the importance social grant systems to aid bridge the inequality gap associated with COVID-19. , Thesis (MEcon) -- Faculty of Commerce, Economics and Economics History, 2023
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Social assistance strategies as means of addressing poverty: lessons for South Africa
- Authors: Mampuru, Tsebo
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4098 , vital:20607
- Description: Poverty is a daily reality which a majority of South Africans live with. Social security in the form of cash grants has been the main poverty reduction instrument, albeit with limited success. The thesis aims to propose improvements which can be made in the government’s current social protection system and formulate alternative directions towards reducing poverty. An overview of the three most researched social security strategies around the world (i.e. Nordic, Latin American, and U.S. models) revealed two dominant instruments: conditionality and universalism. If applied in South Africa, universalism may be costly and unsustainable unless the right funding method is used. Attaching education and health attainment conditions to an adult grant would be inefficient and even burdensome to recipients. In terms of child grants, there is little evidence to suggest that the demand for and private levels of investment in education and health are insufficient. Therefore attaching health and education conditions to social grants may only serve to highlight the severe supply side inefficiencies in South Africa. Attaching marriage as an alternative condition may disadvantage poor and needy beneficiaries as marriage is an expensive institution in South Africa. Furthermore, enforcing the marriage condition would violate the constitutional rights of recipients who do not necessarily place a high value on the institution. To strengthen the poverty reduction efficiency of social grants and reduce dependency, the thesis suggests that social cash grants, regardless of whether universal and/or conditional or neither, should be temporary and used in conjunction with other strategies which encourage inclusive economic growth. Social assistance alone will not reduce poverty and ultimately, inclusive economic growth remains a more viable approach to reducing poverty. How to achieve the required inclusive economic growth in South Africa therefore provides further research opportunities.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mampuru, Tsebo
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4098 , vital:20607
- Description: Poverty is a daily reality which a majority of South Africans live with. Social security in the form of cash grants has been the main poverty reduction instrument, albeit with limited success. The thesis aims to propose improvements which can be made in the government’s current social protection system and formulate alternative directions towards reducing poverty. An overview of the three most researched social security strategies around the world (i.e. Nordic, Latin American, and U.S. models) revealed two dominant instruments: conditionality and universalism. If applied in South Africa, universalism may be costly and unsustainable unless the right funding method is used. Attaching education and health attainment conditions to an adult grant would be inefficient and even burdensome to recipients. In terms of child grants, there is little evidence to suggest that the demand for and private levels of investment in education and health are insufficient. Therefore attaching health and education conditions to social grants may only serve to highlight the severe supply side inefficiencies in South Africa. Attaching marriage as an alternative condition may disadvantage poor and needy beneficiaries as marriage is an expensive institution in South Africa. Furthermore, enforcing the marriage condition would violate the constitutional rights of recipients who do not necessarily place a high value on the institution. To strengthen the poverty reduction efficiency of social grants and reduce dependency, the thesis suggests that social cash grants, regardless of whether universal and/or conditional or neither, should be temporary and used in conjunction with other strategies which encourage inclusive economic growth. Social assistance alone will not reduce poverty and ultimately, inclusive economic growth remains a more viable approach to reducing poverty. How to achieve the required inclusive economic growth in South Africa therefore provides further research opportunities.
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