/turning-tide-inequality

Turning the tide on inequality

Under this work stream UNU-WIDER, the National Treasury (NT), and the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) will work jointly to address distributional issues in both the bottom half and the top of the income distribution. While South Africa’s peaceful transition from racial domination to democracy is rightly acclaimed, lack of progress towards a more balanced distribution of opportunities and income raises difficult political and economic questions. What kinds of social, economic or institutional change might contribute to more rapid transformation of opportunities for the bottom half of the household income distribution? What kinds of constraints on power and privilege might contribute to fairer outcomes at the top tail of the distribution? These are practical and political questions of interest both in South Africa and internationally, and they are economic and institutional questions of considerable complexity.

The research will further explore topics, such as the shape of the personal income tax curve, pricing of public health services, housing finance, regulation of land ownership, and access to vocational education. The determinants of opportunity at the bottom and the top of the income distribution have both common features and important differences.

The aim is to examine both commonalities and divergences, and explore options for reform that might yield better outcomes. The intention also is to explore the inter-connections between different aspects of social, institutional and economic progress — how patterns of educational opportunity relate to labour market outcomes, how household living conditions affect schooling or health, how urban–rural linkages relate to earnings trends, for example.

Request for research proposals
SA-TIED
Download the full Request for Research Proposals The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), together with the National Treasury of South Africa, is requesting research proposals under the second phase of...
July 2022
Inequality
Report
Sarah Truen
After the South African democratic transition, substantial advances were made in the provision of water services to households which had previously not been supplied. However, more recently, the pace of progress has slowed, and technical...
July 2022
Inequality
Regional growth
News
SA-TIED
To showcase key lessons from SA-TIED phase I, the programme produced a series of eight videos that feature the major accomplishments from each of the six work streams and the data lab. Watch all eight...
February 2022
Enterprise development
Public revenue
Macro modelling
Inequality
Climate and energy
Regional growth
In the media
SA-TIED
Last Thursday the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, emphasized the importance of data and evidence-based research in implementing economic policy in South Africa. The Minister was speaking at an online event co-hosted by Business Day...
February 2022
Enterprise development
Public revenue
Macro modelling
Inequality
Climate and energy
Regional growth
Report
SA-TIED
This report is a summary of the SA-TIED programme’s major research contributions to the policy environment. These contributions are not policy proposals, but are meant to inform the policymaking process and fill important gaps in...
January 2022
Enterprise development
Public revenue
Macro modelling
Inequality
Climate and energy
Regional growth
Policy dialogue
27 Jan 2022 / 09:00 to 10:00
Enterprise development
Public revenue
Macro modelling
Inequality
Climate and energy
Regional growth
On 27 January, the Southern Africa – Towards Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED) programme, in partnership with the Business Day Dialogues, will host an online discussion with South Africa’s Finance Minister and experts from the SA-TIED...
Working paper
Maya Goldman, Ihsaan Bassier, Joshua Budlender, Lindi Mzankomo, Ingrid Woolard, and Murray Leibbrandt
We use a fiscal incidence model based on the South African 2014/15 Living Conditions Survey to simulate the poverty reduction impacts of a selection of medium-to-long-term social grant options with the goal of replacing the...
November 2021
Public revenue
Inequality
In the media
SA-TIED
In an article on generational wealth in South Africa, News24 references SA-TIED working paper Estimating the distribution of household wealth in South Africa . The article outlines the challenges faced by many South Africans in...
September 2021
Inequality
Working paper
Lutendo Maiwashe
This study measures the incidence, depth, and severity of health poverty in South Africa, using ordinal self-reported data from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) for 2008–17. The resultant trend is decomposed using a Shapley...
July 2021
Inequality