scholarly journals Achieving Food Security in a Climate Change Environment: Considerations for Environmental Kuznets Curve Use in the South African Agricultural Sector

Climate ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ngarava ◽  
Zhou ◽  
Ayuk ◽  
Tatsvarei

This study relates agricultural income and agricultural carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the context of environmental Kuznets curves for South Africa. We posit likely relationships between UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 1, 2 and 13, relating food production to climate change action. CO2 emissions, income, coal energy consumption and electricity energy consumption time series data from 1990 to 2012 within the South African agricultural sector were used. The autoregressive distributive lag bounds-test and the error correction model were used to analyse the data. The results show long-run relationships. However, agricultural income was only significant in the linear and squared models. Changes in agricultural CO2 emissions from the short run towards the long run are estimated at 71.9%, 124.7% and 125.3% every year by the linear, squared and cubic models, respectively. Exponentially increasing agricultural income did not result in a decrease in agricultural CO2 emissions, which is at odds with the Kuznets hypothesis. The study concludes that it will be difficult for South Africa to simultaneously achieve SDGs 1, 2 and 13, especially given that agriculture is reliant upon livestock production, the largest CO2 emitter in the sector. The sector needs to shift to renewable energy consumption with fewer CO2 emissions.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Habanabakize ◽  
Daniel Francois Meyer ◽  
Judit Oláh

Many developing countries are facing high levels of unemployment and most people who are employed are poorly remunerated due to low skills and productivity levels. Although jobs are important, a productive job is even more important, not only for employees, but also for employers. South Africa, being a developing country, is also facing the challenge of dramatically high levels of unemployment. This study’s aim was to examine both the short- and long-term impacts of real wages, labour productivity and investment spending on employment absorption rates in South Africa. To establish the existing relationship between variables, the study applied several econometric approaches, such as an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, error correction model (ECM) and a Toda–Yamamoto causality analysis on quarterly time series data from 1995Q1 to 2019Q1. The results revealed the existence of both short- and long-run relationships among the variables. While a positive relationship was found between employment absorption, investment spending and labour productivity, it was found that real wages negatively impact on long-run employment absorption rates. Additionally, the short-run analysis indicated that the lagged employment absorption rate influences the current rate of employment. Furthermore, the causality tests indicated that a bi-directional causal relationship exists between employment absorption and investment spending; and a uni-directional relationship between employment and both real wages and labour productivity. Based on the findings, the study recommends increments of investment spending and labour productivity that enables the South African economy to carry out more activities that would require more workers, thereby improving the employment absorption rate. The fact that labour productivity positively impacts the employment absorption rate infers the requirement for quality and skilled workers to be absorbed in the South African labour market. Therefore, labour skills improvements appear to be a prerequisite for productivity enhancement and job creation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohanasundaram Thangamuthu ◽  
Karthikeyan Parthasarathy

The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of the association and the possible existence of a shortrun and long-run relationship between the stock-market indices of South Africa, India and the USA. The idea behind this combination is to know how the stock markets of these three prominent countries are related to each other. The study employs monthly data from the stock indices, namely JALSH (South Africa), NIFTY (India) and NASDAQ (USA) composite from April 2004 to March 2014. After testing for the normality of the data distribution and the stationarity of the time series data, this paper discovered a strong correlation between the stock market indices of South Africa, India and the USA. The correlation among the stock markets is high, particularly between South Africa and India. In addition, the paper attempts to discover the presence of any predictive ability among these markets by applying the Granger causality test. The result indicates that the NASDAQ index has no predictive ability as far as the JALSH and NIFTY indices are concerned. However, the JALSH index has a predictive ability on the NIFTY index. After testing the Granger cause relationship, the existence of a long-run and short-run relationship is tested. The long-run relationships among the stock market indices are analysed, following the Johansen and Juselius multivariate cointegration approach. The result suggests the absence of a long-run relationship among the three stock market indices. Short-run relationship is investigated with the Vector Autoregression (VAR) model, and the outcome obtained shows that both the USA and the South African stock markets are predicted only by their own past lags. However, the Indian stock market is seen to be a function of its own past lags and the past lags of the South African stock index. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1(J)) ◽  
pp. 110-121
Author(s):  
Bongumusa Prince Makhoba, ◽  
Irrshad Kaseeram

Several empirical works have yielded mixed and controversial results with regard to the effects of FDI on employment and economic growth. The primary focus of this study is to investigate the contribution of FDI to domestic employment levels in the context of the South African economy. The analyses of the study were carried out using the annual time series data from 1980 to 2015. The macroeconomic variables employed in the empirical investigation include employment, FDI, GDP, inflation, trade openness and unit labour costs. The study used secondary data from the South African Reserve Bank and Statistics South Africa database. The study estimated a Vector Autoregressive/ Vector Error Correction Mechanism (VAR/VECM) approach to conduct empirical analysis. However, the study also employed single equation estimation techniques, including the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) and Canonical Cointegrating Regression (CCR) models as supporting tools to verify the VAR/VECM results. This study provides strong evidence of a significant negative relationship between FDI and employment levels in the South African economy. Empirical analysis of the study suggests that the effect of economic growth on employment is highly positive and significant in South Africa’s economy. The study recommends that policymakers ought to invest more in productive sectors that aim to promote economic growth and development to boost employment opportunities in South Africa.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
Ntebogang Dinah Moroke ◽  
Molebogeng Manoto

This paper investigated exports, imports and the economic growth nexus in the context of South Africa. The paper sets out to examine if long-run and causal relationships exist between these variables. Quarterly time series data ranging between 1998 and 2013 obtained from the South African Reserve Bank and Quantec databases was employed. Initial data analysis proved that the variables are integrated at their levels. The results further indicated that exports, imports and economic growth are co-integrated, confirming an existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship. Granger causal results were shown running from exports and imports to GDP and from imports to exports, validating export-led and import-led growth hypotheses in South Africa. A significant causality running from imports to exports, suggests that South Africa imported finished goods in excess. If this is not avoided, lots of problems could be caused. A suggestion was made to avoid such problematic issues as they may lead to replaced domestic output and displacement of employees. Another dreadful ramification may be an adverse effect on the economy which may further be experienced in the long-run.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo ◽  
Gbenga Daniel Akinsola

The study aims to explore the causal linkage between CO2 emissions, economic growth and energy consumption in Thailand utilizing the wavelet coherence approach, conventional Granger and the Toda-Yamamoto causality techniques. In this study, In this study, time-series data spanning the period between 1971 and 2018 were used. No prior study has used the wavelet coherence approach to collect information on the association and causal interrelationship among these economic variables at different frequencies and timeframes in Thailand. The study objectives are structured to answer the following question: Does economic growth and energy consumption lead to CO2 emissions in Thailand?. The findings revealed that: (a) Changes in economic growth led to changes in CO2 emissions in Thailand at different frequencies (different scales) between 1971 and 2018. (b) A bidirectional causal relationship between CO2 emissions and energy consumption. (c) A positive correlation between CO2 emissions and energy usage in the short and long-run between 1971 and 2018. (d) A positive correlation between GDP growth and CO2 emissions in the short and long-run between 1971 and 2018. The study suggested that Thailand should initiate stronger policies towards enhancing the efficiency of energy and energy-usage programs to minimize unnecessary energy waste.


Author(s):  
Nicholas M. Odhiambo

In this paper we examine the causal relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth in South Africa - using the newly developed ARDL-Bounds testing approach. We incorporate energy consumption in a bivariate causality setting between CO2 emissions and economic growth, thereby creating a simple trivariate model. Our empirical results show that there is a distinct unidirectional causal flow from economic growth to carbon emissions in South Africa. We also find that energy consumption Granger-causes both carbon emissions and economic growth. We recommend that energy conservation policies, as well as appropriate forms of renewable energy, should be explored in South Africa in order to enable the country to reduce its carbon emission footprint without necessarily sacrificing its output growth. The results apply irrespective of whether the causality is estimated in the short or in the long run.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-52
Author(s):  
Le Hoang Nghiem ◽  
Dang Bac Hai ◽  
Tran Thi Diem Nga ◽  
Su Thi Oanh Hoa

Being a highly vulnerable country due to climate change, Vietnam has issued various climate policies while trying to keep the pace of economic growth. The study evaluates the effectiveness of these policies by examining the effect of economic and energy factors in the efforts of controlling CO2 emissions. Approach by Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) analysis, the model of a linear regression between CO2 emissions and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) & sources of energy consumption has been developed from 1985 to 2018. The study indicates that the economic factor as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a possible significant element to mitigate the emission. In addition, sources of energy consumption have the important role of controlling CO2 emissions. In the long run, the consumption of non - renewable energy is a positive and significant effect on CO2 emissions while renewable energy is vice versa. These outcomes show the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and renewable energy consumption factors lead to the decrease of CO2 emissions in the long run for Vietnam, which implies the co-exist of economic growth and decarbonization.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 699-707
Author(s):  
Handson Banda ◽  
Ireen Choga

One of the most pressing problems facing the South African economy is unemployment, which has been erratic over the past few years. This study examined the impact of economic growth on unemployment, using quarterly time series data for South Africa for the period 1994 to 2012.Johansen Co-integration reflected that there is stable and one significant long run relationship between unemployment and the explanatory variables that is economic growth (GDP), budget deficit (BUG), real effective exchange rate (REER) and labour productivity (LP). The study utilized Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) to determine the effects of macroeconomic variables thus REER, LP, GDP and BUG on unemployment in South Africa. The results of VECM indicated that LP has a negative long run impact on unemployment whilst GDP, BUG and REER have positive impact. The study resulted in the following policy recommendation: South African government should re-direct its spending towards activities that directly and indirectly promote creation of employment and decent jobs; a conducive environment and flexible labour market policies or legislations without impediments to employment creation should be created; and lastly government should prioritise industries that promote labour intensive. All this will help in absorbing large pools of the unemployed population thereby reducing unemployment in South Africa.


Author(s):  
Njabulo Innocent Mkhize

Concerns have been expressed recently about the inability of the South African economy to provide adequate employment for the increasing number of job seekers. This paper investigates how sectoral employment intensity of output growth in the eight non-agricultural sectors of the South African economy has evolved in the period from the first quarter of 2000 to the fourth quarter of 2012, with a view to identifying key growth sectors that are employment intensive. Empirical findings of the study suggest that total non-agricultural employment and GDP do not move together in the long run, implying that jobless growth occurred in South Africa during the period under review. This supports the view that South Africa has become less labour-intensive and more capital-intensive. Results of a sectoral composition confirm a long-run relationship between employment and growth in the finance and business services, manufacturing, transport and utilities sectors. In particular, the results suggest that sectors within the tertiary sector are the best performing sectors in terms of employment intensity of output growth, reflecting the changing structure of the economy and the nature of employment shifting away from primary towards the tertiary sector. Investment in the tertiary sector is necessary to foster new employment opportunities and can assist in improving overall employment intensity in South Africa.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (5(J)) ◽  
pp. 106-121
Author(s):  
Mishelle Doorasamy ◽  
Bruce Rhodes

The study investigates which factors determine sucrose quality in the South African sugar cane production process. Though South Africa is the 8th largest producer of sugar cane in the world and the highest in Africa, a decline has been observed in the production of high quality sugar in the country. The study adopts the Auto Regressive Distributive Lags (ARDL) technique to analyze sugar cane production time series data from 1980 to 2016 in South Africa. Ten variables were tested, including Average Temperature, Stalk growth, Evaporation, and Soil Water Content (100mm). Our findings revealed that on both the short and long run, some of the variables investigated have the tendency of increasing sucrose level in sugar cane while an increase in other variables would decrease sucrose level altogether. However, the impact of Soil Water Content (100mm) appears not to be statistically significant on sucrose production in our regression model in the short and long run. Of special interest are Stalk growth (Reference sugar cane) and average temperature, as their values are more significantly germane as regards the quantity of sucrose obtained during sugar cane processing in South Africa. 


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