Stellenbosch Centenary webinar video available

On Friday the 9th of October, alumni, students, staff and friends celebrated the Department's Centenary by means of an extended webinar. The event featured a brief look at the Department's history and current activities and strategy by current and future Departmental Chairs (Andrie Schoombee and Ada Jansen respectively), a roundtable discussion and a keynote address by Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Banerjee.

The roundtable discussion, centered around the theme of policy coordination, featured a look at South Africa's current economic situation by panel members, who agreed that the current situation, with an unsustainable fiscal trajectory, low growth and high unemployment, is dire, though positive factors, particularly the potential of technology's contribution to economic growth, were also mentioned. A highlight of the discussion was a stark warning by the country's Minister of Finance (also honourary professor in the Department), Tito Mboweni, that if serious measures are not taken to address the worsening fiscal trajectory, South Africa is not only headed for a fiscal crisis by 2024/2025, but likely also a banking and financial crisis. Mboweni's comments at the webinar have been reported on in more detail by Fin24.

The keynote address by Professor Abhijit Banerjee (Good Economics for hard times) pointed out that, generally, there is a problem of public trust in economists and economics, and called for a rethink of economics and economists' approach to economic policy. Banerjee called for greater recognition of the role of governments in the economy (particularly at a time of crisis like the present COVID19 pandemic), the role of non-financial incentives driving behaviour, economic adjustment costs (which may be long-lasting) and making human dignity a central element of social protection policies. (Update: Read a longer report on the University's news blog here.)

Watch the video of the event below: