Transforming economies — for better jobs: SA-TIED panel at WIDER Development Conference

UNU-WIDER and UNESCAP will hold the annual WIDER Development Conference at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand over three days 11-13 September.  The SA-TIED programme will be presenting its work in a panel session for Parallel 7.1, Friday morning, on the conference topic of 'Transforming economies — for better jobs.' The focus of the panel will be on research from the work stream on Enterprise development for job creation and growth and will be chaired by Professor Carol Newman. 

For more information about the WIDER Development Conference, including the programme, visit the UNU-WIDER event page. 

The SA-TIED panel will include presentations and discussion of three forthcoming SA-TIED Working Papers by SA-TIED researchers:

1. Worker embodied technological spillovers by Carl Friedrich Kreuser (Trinity College Dublin), Ayanda Hlatshwayo (National Treasury South Africa), Carol Newman (Trinity College Dublin) and John Rand (University of Copenhagen)
2. Regulating the temporary employment sector: The impact of amendments to the Labour Relations Act by Aalia Cassim
3. Dancing with Dragons: Chinese import penetration and manufacturing firms’ performances in South Africa by Antonio Andreoni (SOAS Univeristy of London and University of Johannesburg) and Sofia Torreggiani (SOAS University of London)

About the Parallel

Understanding the opportunities and constraints to private sector development and productivity growth is key for the design of effective policies for job creation and economic growth more broadly. The increasing availability of tax administrative data globally has led to a surge in academic research aimed at understanding the drivers of productivity, private sector expansion and job creation. The availability of such data has greatly improved the evidence base for the design of policies aimed at job creation and growth.

The Southern Africa – Towards Inclusive Economics Development (SA-TIED) programme is a collaboration between UNU-WIDER, National Treasury, IFPRI and other government and research organisiations in South Africa, which aims to provide an evidence base for policy making aimed at achieving inclusive growth and economic transformation in South Africa and the region. A key feature of the programme has been the availability of tax administrative data through the South African Revenue Service which has allowed a significant body of policy-relevant academic research to be produced that allows for a deeper understanding of the functioning of the private sector and the mechanisms through which government policy and globalisation impact on economic growth and development. The data include company tax data, personal income tax data and customs data, all of which has been merged to create a rich dataset.

In this Panel Session, it is proposed that three papers produced under this workstream using these data are presented. In addition, we will invite an internationally leading academic in the field to provide a general discussion on the value of tax administrative data of this kind and how it is contributing to the literature and policy making in developing countries. The expert will also act as a discussant for the three papers that will be presented. This will provide an excellent show case for the SA-TIED programme and will highlight the value and use of the huge data effort that has underpinned the programme. It will also provide international exposure for the research that has been conducted greatly enhancing its global reach.