While there is an established body of research examining risk preferences, time preferences and smoking behaviour, there is little literature exploring the relationship between risk preferences, time preferences, and smoking cessation contingency management (CM) programmes. This dissertation evaluates a CM study and its effect on smokers' ability to quit and smoking intensity, together with their risk and time preferences. The experiment comprises 87 University of Cape Town students wanting to quit smoking, randomly assigned into treatment and control groups. Risk and time preferences are elicited at the beginning of the programme, using incentive-compatible decision-making tasks. The relationship between the individuals' risk preferences, time preferences, and smoking outcomes is explored using two general approaches: standard statistical models and structural models. In the structural models, maximum likelihood estimation is used to estimate time preference parameters jointly with risk preference parameters. Results are broadly consistent across the two approaches. With respect to abstinence, the statistical model suggests that the likelihood of abstinence increases with discount rates, while the structural models suggest CM reduces the effect that time preferences have on abstinence. Neither approach finds a difference in risk preferences between abstinent and non-abstinent participants. In terms of smoking intensity, both approaches unexpectedly find smoking intensity to increase with risk aversion, and neither approach finds a relationship between smoking intensity and time preferences.

Impulsivity is a complex construct that most people seem to understand intuitively, but ordinarily struggle to define precisely. This term readily lends itself to everyday definitions, including acting without thinking, rash and quick decisions, and impatience. However, definitional issues regarding this term are widespread across scientific studies. Impulsiveness is often considered as a personality trait or a transient state within the psychology literature, whereby the former either refers to an underlying trait or the product thereof while the latter concerns itself with action or choice impulsivity. Additionally, economists typically only consider impulsivity that would be referred to by psychologists as choice impulsivity. We sought to better understand the relationship between self-reported impulsiveness as commonly measured by psychologists and incentivised impulsivity tasks as commonly used by experimental economists. Analysing data collected in 2012, we consider how a risk preference task and a time preference task are related to the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11). We conduct joint maximum likelihood estimation to estimate discounting and risk preference parameters, and compare them to the BIS-11 total score and subscales. Our results show that the BIS-11 is related to time preferences, while only the motor impulsiveness and nonplanning subscales of the BIS-11 are related to risk preferences. These results suggest that the BIS-11 is not a direct substitute for experimental economic tasks when assessing impulsivity.

In March of 2003, South Africa's first agricultural minimum wage was implemented. Ten years later, following major strikes and protests among farm workers in theWestern Cape, the prescribed agricultural minimum wage was increased by a considerable 52 percent from R69 per day to R105 per day, significantly more than the usual inflation rate increases. This paper investigates the impacts of these two minimum wage shocks, specifically assessing the labour market response in terms of employment, wages and working conditions, as well as assessing how farmers adjusted their operations in expectation of the minimum wage hike. The findings indicate that the probability of employment as a farm worker decreased in response to both minimum wage shocks, however the disemployment effect was sharper for the introduction of the minimum wage than it was for the 2013 amendment. It is observed that relatively more part-time workers lost their jobs in response to the first shock, resulting in there being almost no part-time workers in the sector by the time the second minimum wage shock occurred. Wages increased significantly in response to both minimum wage shocks, however despite this, violation consistently remained a challenge in the sector. Lastly, the paper finds that employment, wages and contract coverage began adjusting up to two quarters prior to the 2013 legislated increase in the minimum wage, suggesting that there are dynamic responses to minimum wages, and that farmers may make operational decisions in expectation of new legislation.

This paper uses diffusion modeling to forecast the sales of Plug-in Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicles (PH/BEVs) in South Africa. First the potential benefits of PH/BEVs in South Africa are scrutinized. The global PH/BEV market is analyzed along with the goals and enticement policies of the countries that are best positioned for a widespread uptake of PH/BEVs. The supply and demand challenges facing the market for PH/BEVs in South Africa are evaluated with a review of current and proposed public policies. The total sales of PH/BEVs in South Africa are then forecast for the medium and long term using an adapted multiple technology generation Bass model with variable parameters for vehicle purchase price and running cost. Two scenarios are examined involving varying oil prices, electricity prices, government support and PH/BEV technological development.

Includes bibliographical references. / The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence rates of current and ever waterpipe use and investigate the associated correlates, paying particular attention to the perceptions and beliefs about waterpipe’s adverse health effects as well as its social acceptability. In addition the study aimed to compare the results with the prevalence rates of current and ever cigarette use among the same study group. An online, anonymous, cross-sectional survey was administered via email to all students at the four universities within the Western Cape Province of South Africa during September 2013. 4578 students completed the survey (4.3% response rate). 10.6% [n= 484] of the sample were current waterpipe users while 67.1% [n= 3101] were ever users of waterpipe. 61.1% of current smokers smoked waterpipe to socialise with less than 1% of smokers smoking alone. The majority of waterpipe smokers thought waterpipe use was less harmful, less addictive and more accessible than cigarette smoking. 96.1% [n= 465] of current users felt waterpipe was socially acceptable compared to only 69.9% [n= 1862] of non-smokers. Factors significantly associated with increased odds of being a current smoker were: Coloured race, increased quantity of alcoholic drinks drunk per drinking day, increased frequency of binge drinking and the perception that waterpipe was not difficult to quit. Alcohol consumption patterns apart from problem drinking were associated with waterpipe use. More than half of current waterpipe smokers were not current cigarette smokers [n= 273/484]. Waterpipe smoking is more socially acceptable and therefore more widespread among students in all faculties, genders, ages, physical activity levels and economic brackets than cigarette smoking. This is likely a result of the lack of knowledge about the health risks of waterpipe, the taste of the flavoured sweetened tobacco, and the perception that waterpipe is socially acceptable. While there is overlap between current cigarette and waterpipe users, waterpipe users are distinct from cigarette users. Therefore policy aimed at cessation needs to be targeted towards all students, using a two-pronged approach focusing on the knowledge and beliefs of students and the legislative aspect of waterpipe tobacco.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-73).

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / Poor mine closure policy threatens both society and the environment. Some of the more prominent threats that have manifested are acid mine drainage, slimes dams and toxic dust from dumps. Current legislation requires that new mines set aside funds to cover their rehabilitation costs at closure.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This paper investigates the link between fiscal policy and the current account in post-apartheid South Africa using Bayesian-Vector Autoregressions (BVARs). Consistent with the predictions of the twin deficit hypothesis, the analysis reports a strong positive relationship between the government budget balance and the current account.

Despite the government’s attempts to remedy the inequities of apartheid, there are large racial differences in educational outcomes, with whites performing substantially better than non-whites. In understanding these differences most studies have emphasised the role of school quality, without adequate emphasis on the role of the family. This study has investigated the role of the family in determining educational outcomes, and further how this is different for non-whites and whites. A holistic model of education was used which investigates the role of the family, while controlling for the effect of individual and school level characteristics that impact outcomes. Test scores from a literacy and numeracy evaluation were regressed on family level variables (family structure, parental involvement and socio-economic status), school quality variables and measures of individual ability and effort. The results of this study highlight that parental involvement and socio-economic status play an important role in the educational outcomes of both non-whites and whites, even after controlling for differences in school quality and individual ability and effort. It is not clear that family structure on its own accounts for variations in educational outcomes. Rather it is suggested it operates indirectly through impacting the parental involvement and financial resources available for education. Socio-economic status seems to play a much larger role in explaining the variations in outcomes of white students as compared to non-whites, suggesting a threshold level of socio-economic status above which differences matter more. Parental involvement levels are uniformly high among whites, and therefore does not serve to explain variations in educational outcomes amongst whites. Parental involvement does however have a role in accounting for variations between whites and non-whites and also amongst non-whites. The implications of this study highlight the need to encourage parental involvement amongst non-white families, as a means to improve educational outcomes. The lack of parental involvement often stems from a lack of parental education, impacting the ability to support the educational progress of their children. Programs that enable and equip non-white parents to understand how the educational system works, and how best to assist their children in school, would have lasting benefits by improving the long term prospects of their children.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is widely used in the manufacture of food and beverage containers, in addition to a variety of fibres. PET is considered to be 100% recyclable and can be recycled into a number of different end-use streams: bottle-to-bottle; bottle-to-foodgrade, or bottle-to-fibre. In South Africa, the PET Recycling Company (trading as PETCO) was established to avoid the possibility of government-imposed punitive legislation and to alleviate the impact of PET-based litter. PETCO generates revenue through the collection of voluntary levies from PET manufacturers and supports the recycling of PET through the administration of recycling subsidies and the unlocking of constraints in the PET recycling value chain. This study sets out to describe the PET recycling industry and empirically assess the effectiveness of PETCO's recycling subsidies through regression analysis. As a background to the regression analysis, the study builds the theory behind production and cost function analysis (in addition to the associated duality theory). However, due to the combination of the research question and the limited data availability, an alternative model was adopted, in order to explain as much variation in production tonnages as possible.