HSF Briefs

Issuing additional short-term government bonds to increase funding for COVID-19 Relief

In a follow up to a brief published in May 2020 on the same topic, this brief explores the possibility of allocating to buyers the full amount of short-term, lower-yielding government bonds for which they bid, and how the availability of this funding option differs with changing circumstances.

Third Quarter Production And Employment Statistics - Some Puzzles

This is the final Brief in the series with all the statistical information about production and employment in the third quarter having now been published. This Brief focuses on puzzles which arise when all the sources are considered together.

The Era of Pandemics: Tomorrow's Forever Wars

We are now more than 250 days into our 21-day lockdown, with Ramaphosa and his Command Council claiming for themselves the power to legislate every aspect of our lives until the invisible enemy is beaten, or maybe even longer, as their rhetoric about the new normal suggests. In asserting this power in their war on the virus, they resemble another executive in a different, still-ongoing war against an equally invisible enemy: the US war on terror.

Human Settlements In The Metros

This Brief discusses the Department of Human Settlements’ proposed re-orientation of its policies.

The July To September Quarterly Labour Force Survey

Production in the South African economy has bounced back quite sharply since July. This Brief explores what the Quarterly Labour Force Survey tells us about employment and unemployment in the third quarter.

September Production, Rates Of Profit And Loanable Funds

This Brief updates our understanding of the economy and how it has bounced back. It also considers trends in profitability since the beginning 2014, and finally discusses financial flows within the economy.

Foreign Nationals In Gauteng’s Informal Retail Sector

This brief looks at some important facts behind the informal retail sector, specifically with regards to competition between local and foreign traders, and asks whether the Gauteng government’s current hostile stance towards foreign nationals in the Gauteng Township Economic Development Bill will help or hinder South Africans.

Pharmaceuticals and South Africa III - The Courts

In the first brief we considered the findings in the HSF’s enquiry into the structures regarding the pricing and distribution of pharmaceuticals in South Africa. The Second brief summarised the manufacturing environment of pharmaceuticals in South Africa. We conclude the series by looking at various findings against the backdrop of a Western Cape High Court judgement.