This dissertation examines the impact of state-subsidised housing on the realisation of the right to adequate housing in South Africa. The incremental housing policy adopted in 1994 has its roots in the work of the Urban Foundation and others, who significantly shaped the discussions in the National Housing Forum, where South Africa's first post-apartheid housing policy was formulated. As a result low-income housing policy is centred on the use of capital subsidies allocated towards homeownership. In 1996 the state promulgated the Constitution obligating government to ensure that, inter alia, 'everyone has the right of access to adequate housing'. 'Adequate housing', as per the United Nations Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, comprises of six core elements: accessibility, affordability, location, availability of services, habitability and security of tenure; which have all been affected in various ways by government's legislative and policy interventions. The delivery of state-subsidised housing has been impressive - with nearly three million completed since 1994. However, there have been significant problems. This paper emphasises four main issues: the poor quality houses that have required rectification and/or rebuilding; an overemphasis on homeownership, above rental tenure; a lack of effective transfer of title deeds; and the informal sale of state-subsidised houses. All of which have negatively impacted on progress towards full realisation of the right of access to adequate housing.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of taxes in general and across the major three tax types, PIT, CIT and VAT on economic growth in South Africa. South Africa faces critically low growth levels amidst other challenges of high unemployment levels and significant inequalities. Government has a role of intervening in the economy through provision of public goods and services promoting economic development. This is facilitated through the levying of taxes. With the current concerns around tax policy and imminent tax increases in South Africa, it is imperative that a causal relationship between taxes and growth be investigated. The study covers the period 2003 to 2016, employing the ARDL framework to establish a long run relationship between taxes and growth at aggregate tax level, as well as major tax type level, where the model specified is derived from the GDP aggregate income approach. Results obtained indicate a long run equilibrium only at tax type level. This is followed by the Granger causality test that supports a demand-following hypothesis of growth over taxes in aggregate and PIT and CIT in particular, as well as a bi-directional relationship between growth and VAT, considered and indirect tax, consistent with the supply-leading hypothesis of consumption over growth. The results thus suggest that a positive relationship exists between taxes and growth where increases in tax lead to increases in growth in the VAT instance, then in the instance of increases in PIT and CIT, a result of increases in growth. It is recommended the Davis Tax Commission consider an increase in VAT rather than in the other tax types so as to bring about a more impactful, positive increase in economic growth, in alignment to the NDP.

South Africa has been experiencing an unprecedented increase in youth unemployment in the past 5 years and the level of entrepreneurial activities amongst young people is very low reported at 8.9% below international average of 11.9 % as at 2014. This situation still manifest itself even after the government of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) took a policy stance in tasking the National Development Agency (NYDA) to place youth entrepreneurship at the core of its programs to ensure that young people in their numbers participate in the mainstream economy. Previous research conducted in the country about the state or levels of youth entrepreneurship, attributed the shortcomings to funding gaps left by commercial banks, lack of business skills, lack of concerted efforts to have curriculum that is focused on entrepreneurship in universities but at the core of it all, funding is cited as the biggest challenge experienced by young people willing to start and run their own businesses. In the country with a sophisticated financial sector and DFIs highly liquid, yet we still have funding challenges and procedural bottlenecks experienced by sectors of society interested in establishing businesses. It is out of these challenges that this research seeks to investigate into the mechanisms used by South African DFIs (NYDA and Awethu projects) to fund youth enterprises in the country. This Research used a qualitative approach to analyse primary and secondary data collected from the NYDA, Awethu projects and IDC This research found that public DFIs have a wider reach compared to private DFIs because it is easy to set up offices in municipalities like the case of the NYDA and the IDC. Private DFIs will also struggle against public DFIs in servicing a wider range of youth enterprises because of government guarantees that could always be activated in times of financial stress. It also made a finding that Awethu projects emphasise the need for employment creation when qualifying enterprises from one funding band to the next compared to the NYDA. The three institutions have sound and functional credit committees that ensure that prejudice is eliminated from the appraisal processes. Lastly the NYDA spends majority of its budget on salaries compared to the mandate which it exists for. On average, about 39% of its budget goes to servicing internal human resource issues as compared to 8.31% budgeted to fund youth businesses.

The subject of financial development has received a great deal of attention, both theoretically and through empirical research. Earlier work focussed on the relationship between financial development and economic growth, with both policy makers and academics seeing financial liberalisation and the development of financial systems as a way to quickly improve the welfare of a country's citizens. Practically the steps taken to liberalise and develop financial systems have had mixed results, indicating the pitfalls of any 'one size fits all' approach to development. Still, there is almost unanimous acceptance of a strong linkage between the financial system and the wider economy. Financial development in Africa is also of particular interest given the economic challenges that many African countries face (and related issues such as poverty). Financial development can act as a lever to spur economic growth and ultimately the welfare of much of the continent. However, it is widely recognised that African financial systems are under-developed. Allen et al. (2013) show that even compared to other developing economies, African financial systems score significantly lower across most measures of development. More recent studies have therefore shifted focus towards answering questions related to the determinants and drivers of financial development itself. Given the accepted benefits of an effective financial system, what policies and interventions can be put in place to assist with financial development? Ultimately, any inquiry into the realm of financial development is constrained by the study's ability to select the appropriate indicators for, and accurately measure the financial system. Even under ideal circumstances this can be challenging, as there is certainly no consistent view as to how best measure financial development. Approaches have changed over time, from traditionally focussing on simply the size and depth of a financial market to more modern indicators related to stability and financial inclusion – more aligned to the long term welfare outcomes in the economy rather than merely measuring the properties of a system. In reality, studies have to account for inconsistent and often missing data sets, especially for developing economies (which tend to be the focus of research into development). The assertion of La Porta et al. (1998) that measuring the size of financial markets "is a bit tricky" somewhat understates the challenges related to the measurement of financial systems. This study aims to explore the theory and empirical studies related to financial development, its impact on economic growth in Africa and the various ways to measure financial markets and institutions. The rest of this report is structured as follows; Section 2 contains the context and case for the study and lays out the objectives for the research. It also provides a summary overview of the key functions of financial systems as a reference for the rest of the paper. Section 3 provides a comprehensive review on the literature around three core areas (1) The relationship between financial development and economic growth, (2) the determinants of financial development and (3) the approaches to measuring financial development. Section 4 contains the discussion on this study's methodology and hypotheses. Section 5 discusses the key results and findings from the analysis. Section 6 provides a conclusion and recommendations for future research, followed by the Appendices.

This paper addresses the issue surrounding the valuation of valuing large-scale infrastructure projects located in emerging and frontier market countries. These are economies which, traditionally, have been characterised as having high levels of risk and uncertainty, thus presenting a significant challenge to capital allocation decisions and the associated theme of narrowing the finance gap. In light of this, a case study is used to investigate the impact that simulation has on the valuation of an actual infrastructure project located in a sub-Saharan African economy. Specifically, a Monte Carlo simulation-based cash flow model is presented of an investment into a renewable energy project located in South Africa. Results of the simulation process indicate the degree to which certain variables affect the output factors, juxtaposed with an initial base case. A clear need is established for a more sophisticated valuation method in order to accurately judge the investment opportunity and Monte Carlo simulation is presented as a viable solution.

This research highlights the value of Real Options Analysis (ROA) as a process in the evaluation of an oil extraction project in Sub-Saharan Africa. It shows the benefits it can bring to not only the final project evaluation but also to the project design selection process. The research then extends the application of ROA by developing and applying a framework which incorporates the fact that project flexibility has a positive impact on the projects value in the face of downside risk. ROA, by virtue of its explicit cash flow volatility modelling provides a framework for a consideration of the optimal level of project debt. In this case it suggests that the project can carry more debt than would have been acceptable if the more traditional NPV method was used in its evaluation.

This study examines the capital structures' differences across industry classification for 221 firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock Echange, from 2007 to 2016. A panel multiple regression model which takes into account the determinants of capital structure was used to identify the effect of firm level characteristics on the capital structure across the industrial sectors. The findings indicate that firms in the health care services, utilities and industrial sectors employ a higher percentage of leverage in the mix of capital, compared to the others. From the panel regression analysis, asset tangibility, profitability and firm size were found to have a significant effect on total debt, with varying effects observed for long-term and short-term debt. On the industrial determinants of capital structure, firms in the basic material industry, total debt ratio is mainly determined by the fixed-asset ratio, indicating that firms in this sector rely on tangibility of assets to secure debt financing. Profitability has a negative relationship with total debt, indicating possibly the presence of the pecking order theory. The consumer goods and consumer service industry firms' leverage ratios are mainly determined by the firms' profitability. The health care industry shows signs of the Trade-off Theory being present as the main determinant, being the effective tax rate which has an inverse relationship with the total debt ratio. The industrial industry has an inverse relationship with profitability, also indicating a possible pecking order theory at play. The main determinants for the technology industry are asset tangibility, profit and the effective tax rate. The telecommunication industry determinant of total debt is profit.

Handwashing with soap at critical times is a simple and effective way to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, such as diarrhea and acute respiratory infection, which are major causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. However, rates of handwashing remain low throughout the world, and interventions which attempt to improve handwashing behaviors have largely been unsuccessful in practice. This may be because behavior change programs often fail to recognize the habitual drivers of handwashing behavior. In contrast, this paper examines the effectiveness of a novel soap technology, HOPE SOAP©, a child-size and colorful bar of soap with a toy embedded in its center, which aims to increase handwashing in children by specifically targeting its habitual nature. To rigorously evaluate HOPE SOAP©, this paper exploits data from a pilot randomized controlled trial whereby 229 households from a poor urban community in South Africa were randomly assigned to receive HOPE SOAP© for a period of 12-weeks. In an initial analysis of the effects of the intervention on children’s health and behavior, Burns, Maughan-Brown, and Mouzinho (2017) found that that HOPE SOAP© had positive impacts on children’s handwashing behaviors and health outcomes. Children who received HOPE SOAP© children were more likely to wash their hands, and had better overall health outcomes than control children (Burns, Maughan-Brown, and Mouzinho 2017). Although HOPE SOAP© aims to induce behavior change in children, this paper explores the spillover effects that it has on other members of children’s households. Specifically, this work uses regression analysis to investigate the impacts of HOPE SOAP© on the handwashing behaviors of children’s primary caregivers, and on the health outcomes of all non-treated household members. This paper finds compelling evidence illustrating that a child’s assignment to HOPE SOAP© has a positive impact on the handwashing behavior of their caregiver. Specifically, HOPE SOAP© increases the probability that a caregiver will wash their hands before eating a snack by 13 percentage points on average (p-value 0.17). A further investigation of the causal mechanisms for this improvement suggests that HOPE SOAP© affects caregiver behavior both by disrupting existing poor-hygiene habits, and by strengthening handwashing norms within households. Despite its positive effects on household handwashing behavior, this paper finds that a child’s assignment to HOPE SOAP© has no discernable shortterm impacts on the health of individual household members. Nevertheless, the positive influence of HOPE SOAP© on caregiver handwashing behavior is promising and, in conjunction with the finding that HOPE SOAP© improves children’s behaviors, provides reason to believe the intervention may be successful in inducing habitual handwashing behaviors which can persist in the long run.

Background: Since the introduction of legislation in Zimbabwe allowing private participation in generation, there has been significant investor interest in financing independent power producers (IPPs). However, this interest has not materialized into actual investment. Of the 29 IPPs licensed by the Zimbabwe Regulatory Authority (ZERA), only seven have reached financial closure and are supplying the grid. This dismal performance in the IPP space is a major concern for policy makers, particularly in light of the persistent power shortages plaguing the country. Stop gap measures such as the imports of power and load shedding are not sustainable and have detrimental effects on economic productivity. Expansion of private power generation is the only viable long term solution. In light of this, it is imperative to understand the factors that contribute towards successfully financing IPPs. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore and identify the critical success factors (CSFs) for financing IPPs in Zimbabwe and specific strategies to improve the implementation of IPPs, to ensure as far as possible, a win-win scenario for all stakeholders. Methodology: This thesis employs a mixed methods approach consisting of a qualitative first phase of expert interviews to identify a core list of success factors, followed by a quantitative second phase, in which a questionnaire survey is used to examine the relative importance and ranking of the factors and to determine whether the ranking of factors varies by stakeholder grouping. Findings: A total of 40 success factors were identified, and 38 of the 40 were rated as critical for financing IPPs in Zimbabwe by stakeholders. The study also revealed that the expected debt paying ability of the project; a transparent and cost reflective tariff framework and upholding of contracts are the most critical factors for all stakeholders. The results indicated that there is low agreement in the the ranking of CSFs between the private sector and public sector. Value: This study provides a valuable reference for all stakeholders that are interested in developing IPPs in Zimbabwe.

This paper builds on earlier work in business cycle theory, particularly in the growth cycle tradition of (Lucas, 1976), to analyse business cycles in Africa's Frontier Market Economies (FMEs), which include the following countries: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. This paper extends the work of (Agenor, McDermott, & Prasad, 2000), (Rand & Tarp, 2002) and (R. L. Male, 2009) who have established a set of stylised facts for the fluctuations of business cycles in developing countries, to examine the impact of world shocks on the FMEs through the development of the stylised facts for these economies. This paper goes on to assess the suitability of the stylised facts that have been established for developing countries for Africa's FMEs. This thesis makes an important contribution to the literature, by focussing on Africa's FMEs which are also considered to be the anchors of growth and future development for the continent. In accordance with existing business cycle literature, this study examines the impact of endogenous and exogenous factors on the business cycles of the FMEs, to assess firstly how these factors impact the FMEs business cycles, and secondly whether there are similarities with other developing countries in terms of how these business cycles react to these impacts. The analysis is conducted through the examination of the volatility, persistence and cross-correlation between domestic output (gross domestic product) and a large group of macroeconomic variables (including consumption, fiscal variables, trade variables as well as monetary variables) to establish the stylised facts for the FMEs, which are then compared to the generalised stylised facts established for developing countries. The results indicate that only selected stylised facts for the analysis of business cycles of developing countries are valid for the FMEs, such as the volatility of output, public sector revenue and expenditure, and consumption. However, many aspects of the business cycles of these economies are significantly different to the stylised facts such as the lower than expected volatility of investment, as well as the volatility of exports which is double the expected value. The policy implications of the findings for Africa's FME's are also reflected upon.