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        <title>Polity.org.za | Econ3x3</title>
        <description><![CDATA[Econ3x3 is an independent forum for critical public debate on unemployment and employment, income distri­bution and inclu­sive growth in South Africa. It publishes accessible research based contribu­tions and expert commentaries.]]></description>
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            <title>The quiet erosion: What has happened to subsistence farming in South Africa?</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/the-quiet-erosion-what-has-happened-to-subsistence-farming-in-south-africa-2026-09-28</link>
            <description><![CDATA[There is a gradual decline in households engaged in subsistence agriculture. What does this mean for food security and for households’ wellbeing? There is a quiet story unfolding in South Africa’s rural and peri-urban landscapes, one that does not grab headlines in the way droughts, export bans, or commodity price spikes do. Yet it is a story that holds important implications for the country’s food security: a gradual decline in the number of households engaged in agriculture.]]></description>
            <author>Creamer Media Reporter  </author>
            <category>Econ3x3</category>
            <pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2026 14:37:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <editor>Creamer Media Reporter  </editor>
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            <title>From fragility to resilience: The emerging market journey</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/from-fragility-to-resilience-the-emerging-market-journey-2026-09-23</link>
            <description><![CDATA[In many ways, South Africa is a textbook example of a resilient emerging market, but the country still faces the “silent crisis” of tepid growth. This is caused not by macro-economic policy but by the institutional failure brought on by state capture. There is a cover of Time magazine, dated 15 February 1999, with the title ‘The Committee to Save the World’. There are three men pictured, all Americans: Alan Greenspan, the Chair of the United States Federal Reserve; Bob Rubin, the US Treasury Secretary; and his deputy, Larry Summers.]]></description>
            <author>Econ3x3  </author>
            <category>Econ3x3</category>
            <pubDate>Wed, 23 Sep 2026 14:20:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <editor>Creamer Media Reporter  </editor>
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        <image_title>Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago</image_title>
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            <title>Promises and limits: What the SRD grant tells us about cash transfers in constrained labour markets</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/promises-and-limits-what-the-srd-grant-tells-us-about-cash-transfers-in-constrained-labour-markets-2026-09-09</link>
            <description><![CDATA[How effective are cash transfers in improving labour market outcomes in contexts where jobs are scarce and barriers to self-employment high? We examine the effects of South Africa’s Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant – a small, unconditional cash transfer targeting the unemployed – and find that it increases job search and employment without discouraging work, at least on average. However, in a labour market as structurally constrained as South Africa’s, these gains are modest and short-lived, pointing to the need for complementary reforms that go beyond income support alone. Cash transfers and structural unemployment]]></description>
            <author>Econ3x3  </author>
            <category>Econ3x3</category>
            <pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:24:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <updated>1788956814</updated>
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        <editor>Econ3x3  </editor>
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            <title>Operation Vulindlela: Opening the road</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/operation-vulindlela-opening-the-road-2026-09-04</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Operation Vulindlela is a joint delivery unit of the Presidency and the National Treasury, established in 2020 to implement a limited set of reforms identified in a 2019 National Treasury growth paper. Its first phase covered electricity generation licensing, water-use licences, work visas, freight rail and ports, and telecommunications. A second phase extends to metro rail, municipal water services, local government finances and digital government. This article sets out what each of those reforms involved, and where the programme now stands. Early in Cyril Ramaphosa’s first term as president, a group of policymakers convened to analyse just how dire the condition of the South African economy was and to discuss what needed to be done.]]></description>
            <author>Econ3x3  </author>
            <category>Econ3x3</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 09:23:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <editor>Econ3x3  </editor>
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            <title>The economy we are waiting for may never arrive: we need to imagine new paths to development</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/the-economy-we-are-waiting-for-may-never-arrive-we-need-to-imagine-new-paths-to-development-2026-08-27</link>
            <description><![CDATA[South Africa’s development challenge is not only economic; it is also one of imagination. We need to find new areas where growth, innovation, and opportunity can thrive. South Africa spends a great deal of time waiting. We are waiting for growth to return, for investment to arrive, for transformation to work, for unemployment to fall – waiting for an economy capable of delivering broad-based inclusion. Yet despite three decades of reform, many of these expectations have remained stubbornly unmet.]]></description>
            <author>Econ3x3  </author>
            <category>Econ3x3</category>
            <pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:03:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>728887</a_id>
        <updated>1787825332</updated>
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        <editor>Econ3x3  </editor>
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            <title>Flawed methods lead to dangerous conclusions on SRD lifeline</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/flawed-methods-lead-to-dangerous-conclusions-on-srd-lifeline-2026-08-14</link>
            <description><![CDATA[This article critiques two 2026 academic papers that argue that the Covid-19 SRD grant led to reductions in household income and expenditure and food security. We show that a failure to understand the design of the grant led to flawed methods and incorrect interpretation of results. The authors conclude that cash transfer programmes can have negative “unintended consequences”, when in fact their results show that the grant is overwhelmingly received by income-insecure households, but that its value is too low to adequately alleviate food insecurity. This article responds to two recent papers by economists Lateef Bello and Dorah Dubihlela on the welfare effects of South Africa’s Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant. These papers grabbed our attention, for two reasons.]]></description>
            <author>Econ3x3  </author>
            <category>Econ3x3</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:20:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>727866</a_id>
        <updated>1786692247</updated>
        <published>1786692000</published>
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        <editor>Creamer Media Reporter  </editor>
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            <title>Sweet smell of success: how South Africa overtook Spain as the world's largest citrus exporter ...</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/sweet-smell-of-success-how-south-africa-overtook-spain-as-the-worlds-largest-citrus-exporter-by-volume-2026-08-06</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Last year, South Africa overtook Spain to become the world’s largest exporter of citrus. It marked a turning point in the world’s citrus industry and in the country’s focus on high-value agricultural exports. What has driven this move, and what challenges does the sector face today? Introduction]]></description>
            <author>Econ3x3  </author>
            <category>Econ3x3</category>
            <pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:48:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>727320</a_id>
        <updated>1786006389</updated>
        <published>1786006080</published>
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        <editor>Econ3x3  </editor>
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            <title>How tariffs on manufacturing affect employment in the services sector</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/how-tariffs-on-manufacturing-affect-employment-in-the-services-sector-2026-07-30</link>
            <description><![CDATA[South Africa faces unemployment and deindustrialisation. Manufacturing tariff cuts in the 1990s were expected to reallocate workers into services. Our research finds the opposite: municipalities with larger tariff cuts experienced weaker employment growth in manufacturing and services. Wages did not adjust – the shock was absorbed through job losses. Negative spillovers from manufacturing constrained services from absorbing displaced workers; they either exited the labour force or migrated to other municipalities. Introduction]]></description>
            <author>Econ3x3  </author>
            <category>Econ3x3</category>
            <pubDate>Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:24:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>726811</a_id>
        <updated>1785407386</updated>
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        <editor>Econ3x3  </editor>
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            <title>Rethinking title deeds in former homelands: what do households want?</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/rethinking-title-deeds-in-former-homelands-what-do-households-want-2026-07-22</link>
            <description><![CDATA[In significant parts of rural South Africa, people occupy land not through formal title deeds but through a system of land allocation rooted in the apartheid and pre-apartheid eras. Would formal title deeds improve economic wellbeing and promote investment? Perhaps. But in a survey of rural dwellers in seven former homelands, most residents said they did not want this. Introduction]]></description>
            <author>Econ3x3  </author>
            <category>Econ3x3</category>
            <pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 14:40:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>726227</a_id>
        <updated>1784724168</updated>
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        <editor>Creamer Media Reporter  </editor>
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            <title>Why we should count our chickens</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/why-we-should-count-our-chickens-2026-07-16</link>
            <description><![CDATA[South Africa has 168 million chickens. What does their location tell us about food security and the resilience of this key agricultural sub-sector? 1. A sector built on scale]]></description>
            <author>Econ3x3  </author>
            <category>Econ3x3</category>
            <pubDate>Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:16:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>725791</a_id>
        <updated>1784194423</updated>
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        <editor>Econ3x3  </editor>
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