This project aims to ensure that the rich panel data available in CAPS and NIDS are used to their best advantage by putting in place and building the capacity of a core group of senior, middle and emerging researchers to undertake the foundational research that these data make possible. At the same time it ensures that these researchers continue to spread the skills necessary to use these data by incorporating the development of specific training in the analysis of longitudinal data.

Activities

The specific activities to be undertaken during this project include:

  • A programme of research using NIDS and CAPS that supplies frontier research on South Africa’s poverty, inequality and employment dynamics;
  • Randomized interventions and behavioural experiments which complement longitudinal data analysis;
  • Ensuring that each of the middle-senior researchers in SALDRU realizes their potential to produce an important and influential body of work;
  • Growing the next generation of South African researchers in this area by reaching out nationally through a programme of training in longitudinal analysis and by creating an attractive post-graduation research environment for those who graduate through the Research Chair and the other programmes already in place; and
  • Extending our capacity to facilitate public access to data and training materials by creating a national poverty centre that makes key resources available electronically to all.

Dates: 2012 – 2014

Funding

National Research Foundation/Department of Science and Technology: Human and Social Dynamics in Development Grand Challenge

SALDRU People

  • Cally Ardington
  • Nicola Branson
  • Arden Finn
  • Clare Hofmeyr
  • Murray Leibbrandt

SALDRU working papers

2013

Unemployment and household formation
Ebrahim, A., Woolard, I. & Leibbrandt, M. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #126.

School enrolment and the Child Support Grant: Evidence from South Africa
Eyal, K. & Woolard, I. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #125.

Educational expenditure in South Africa: Evidence from the National Income Dynamics Study
Branson, N., Kekana, D. & Lam, D. (2013) SALDRU Working Paper #124.

Food expenditure patterns in South Africa: Evidence from NIDS
Mhlongo, V. & Daniels, R.C. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #123.

Rural livelihoods in South Africa
Daniels, R.C., Partridge, A, Kekana, D. & Musundwa, S. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #122.

Earnings volatility in South Africa
Ranchhod, V. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #121.

Mobility and inequality in the first 3 waves of NIDS
Finn, A. & Leibbrandt, M. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #120.

The dynamics of poverty in the first 3 waves of NIDS
Finn, A. & Leibbrandt, M. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #119.

Genuine fakes: The prevalence and implications of fieldworker fraud in a large South African survey
Finn, A. & Ranchhod, V. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #115.

The influence of social transfers on labour supply: A South African and international review
Leibbrandt, M., Lilenstein, K., Shenker, C. & Woolard, I. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #112.

Moving out and moving in: evidence of short-term household change in South Africa from the National Income Dynamics Study
Grieger, L., Williamson, A., Leibbrandt, M. & Levinsohn, J. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #106.

Progress through school and the determinants of dropout in South Africa
Branson, N., Hofmeyr, C. & Lam, D. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #100.

What happened to multi-dimensional poverty between 1993 and 2010? 
Finn, A., Leibbrandt, M., & Woolard, I. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #99.

Trends in teenage childbearing and schooling outcomes for children born to teens in South Africa
Branson, N., Ardington, C. & Leibbrandt, M. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #98.

Distance as a barrier to health care access in South Africa
McLaren, Z., Ardington, C. & Leibbrandt, M. (2013). SALDRU Working Paper #97.

Social protection and labor market outcomes of youth in South Africa
Ardington, C., Bärnighausen, T., Case, A. & Menendez, A. (2013) SALDRU Working Paper #96.

2012

The economic consequences of death in South Africa
Ardington, C., Bärnighausen, T., Case, A. and A. Menendez (2012). SALDRU Working Paper #91.

Wealth in the National Income Dynamics Study wave 2
Daniels, R., Finn, A. & Musundwa, S. (2012). SALDRU Working Paper #83.

Income mobility in South Africa: Evidence from the first two waves of the National Income Dynamics Study
Finn, A., Leibbrandt, M. & Levinsohn, J. (2012). SALDRU Working Paper #82.

Labour market: Analysis of the NIDS wave 1 and 2 datasets

Cichello, P.; Leibbrandt, M.; Woolard, I. (2012). SALDRU Working Paper #78.

Education and inequality: The South African case
Branson, N.; Garlick, J.; Lam, D.; Leibbrandt, M. (2012). SALDRU Working Paper #75.

Publications

2014

Health outcomes for children born to teen mothers in Cape Town, South Africa
Branson, N., Ardington, C. & M. Leibbrandt (forthcoming). Research in Labour Economics.

Getting ahead or falling behind: Findings from the second wave of the National Income Dynamics Study
Woolard, I., Leibbrandt, M. & Daniels, R.C. (2014). Development Southern Africa, 31(1): 1-15.

Income mobility in a high inequality society: Evidence from the first two waves of the National Income Dynamics Study
Finn, A., Leibbrandt, M. & Levinsohn, J. (2014). Development Southern Africa, 31(1): 16-30.

Wealth data quality in the National Income Dynamics Study Wave 2
Daniels, R.C., Finn, A. & Musundwa, S. (2014). Development Southern Africa, 31(1): 31-50.

Winners and losers: South African labour market dynamics between 2008 and 2010
Cichello, P., Leibbrandt, M. & Woolard, I. (2014). Development Southern Africa, 31(1): 65-84.

Progress through school and the determinants of school dropout in South Africa
Branson, N., Lam, D. & C. Hofmeyr. (2014). Development Southern Africa, 31(1): 106-126.

Mortality in South Africa: Socioeconomic profile and association with self-reported health
Ardington, C. and B. Gasealahwe (2014). Development Southern Africa, 31(1): 127-145.

Re-weighting South African national household survey data to create a consistent series over time: a cross entropy estimation approach
Branson N. & M. Wittenberg. (2014). South African Journal of Economics, 82(1): 19-38.

2013

Educational Inheritance and the Distribution of Occupations: Evidence from South Africa
Keswell, M., Girdwood, S. & Leibbrandt, M. (2013). The review of income and wealth, 59(S1): S111-S137.

Unconditional cash transfers in South Africa
Woolard, I. & Leibbrandt, M. (2013) in Sepulveda, C., Harrison, A. & Yifu Lin, J. (eds.) Annual World Bank conference on Development Economics 2011: Development challenges in a post-crisis world. World Bank Publications.

2012

Post-apartheid changes in South African inequality
Leibbrandt, M., Finn, A. & Woolard, I. (2012) in Gornick, J. & Jäntti, M. “Income Inequality: Economic Disparities and the Middle Class in Affluent Countries”. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.

Describing and decomposing post-apartheid inequality in South Africa
Leibbrandt, M., Finn, A. & Woolard, I. (2012). Development Southern Africa, 29(1): 19-34.

Minimum Wages and Household Poverty: General Equilibrium Macro-Micro Simulations for South Africa
Pauw, K. and Leibbrandt, M. (2012). World Development, 40(4): 771-783.

Other writing

2013

What happened to multidimensional poverty in South Africa between 1993 and 2010?
Finn, A., Leibbrandt, M. & Woolard, I. (November 2013). SALDRU Research Brief.

Moving out and moving in: Evidence of Short-Term Household Change in South Africa from the National Income Dynamics Study
Grieger, L., Williamson, A., Leibbrandt, M. & Levinsohn, J. (November 2013). SALDRU Research Brief.

The middle class and inequality in South Africa
Finn, A., Leibbrandt, M. & Woolard, I. (November 2013). SALDRU Research Brief.

The matric certificate is still valuable in the labour market
Hofmeyr, C., Branson, N., Leibbrandt, M., Ardington, C. & Lam, D. (October 2013). Econ3x3 Brief.

The significant decline in poverty in its many dimensions
Finn, A., Leibbrandt, M. & Woolard, I. (July 2013). Econ3x3 Brief.

Educational attainment and labour market outcomes in South Africa
Branson, N & Leibbrandt M. (2013). OECD Working Paper 1022.

Education quality and labour market outcomes in South Africa
Branson, N & Leibbrandt M. (2013). OECD Working Paper 1021.

2012
Education, the great equaliser: Improving access to quality education

Branson, N. and Zuze, T.L. (2012). South African Child Gauge 2012, Children’s Institute, UCT (pp. 69-74).

Inequality in South Africa and Brazil: Can we trust the numbers?
Finn, A. & Leibbrandt, M. (2012). CDE Insight Paper, July 2012. Johannesburg: Centre for Development and Enterprise.