Seminars

Monday 10 February 2025 12:00-13:00
Mr Zakhele Ngeobo: Stellenbosch University
Topic: "Determinants and Effects of Mental Health on the Economy"
Venue: CGW Schumann_221
'An evaluation of the determinants and effects of the mental health crisis in South Africa
Monday 24 February 2025 13:00-14:00
Dr Sonja Keller: Executive Director & Chief Economist At Jp Morgan
Topic: "Beyond Your Economics Degree: Essentials for the Job Market"
Venue: CGW Schumann_225
'The presentation entails the following topics: Career path options (PhD, IMF, private sector); Real-world roles of economists; Essential skills for graduates; Career insights and guidance; Job market opportunities and application strategies
Monday 10 March 2025 12:00-13:00
Mr Joshua de Jager: Stellenbosch University
Topic: "A BRIDGE BETWEEN A FINANCIAL CRISIS AND A PANDEMIC: A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF MONETARY POLICY IN JAPAN BETWEEN 2008 AND 2019"
Venue: CGW Schumann_221
'The research examines a bridge between a financial crisis and a pandemic with a critical evaluation of monetary policy in Japan between 2008 and 2019.'
Monday 24 March 2025 12:00-12:50
Prof Andreas Freytag (Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany)
Topic: "Populist Walking Sticks: Redefining Growth Stories in Populist Economies"
Venue: CGW Schumann Building, Second floor, Room 221
Monday 31 March 2025 12:00-13:00
Mr Jan-Hendrik Pretorius: Stellenbosch University
Topic: "Inequality and the Persistence of Family Wealth: Evidence from South African Genealogies"
Venue: CGW Schumann_225
'This thesis provides new insights into wealth mobility in the Cape Colony, South Africa, by examining inter- and multigenerational wealth persistence from the late 17th to mid-19th century, focusing on the Rossouw family, French Huguenots who settled in the colony in the late 1600s. Using genealogical records, tax census data, and auction results, the study explores how wealth was accumulated, transmitted across generations, and how marriage played a crucial role in maintaining elite status.'
Monday 07 April 2025 12:00-13:00
Mr Hywel George: Director At Old Mutual Alternative Investments
Topic: "Trump 2.0 Geopolitics & Macro Markets outlook"
Venue: CGW Schumann_225
Monday 14 April 2025 12:00-13:00
Dr Dan Kaliski: Birkbeck, University Of London
Topic: "The Power Asymmetry in Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Designs "
Venue: CGW Schumann_225
'Regression discontinuity (RD) is a popular method to estimate the effect of endogenous treatment. In a “fuzzy” RD design, the probability of treatment jumps discontinuously when a “running variable” (R) passes a threshold (R0). Fuzzy RD estimates are obtained via a two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression, where an indicator I(R > R0) plays the role of the instrument. Recently, Keane and Neal (2023, 2024) showed that 2SLS t-tests suffer from a “power asymmetry” problem: 2SLS standard errors are spuriously precise (imprecise) when the 2SLS estimate is close to (far from) the OLS estimate. One consequence is that the t-test has little power to detect true negative effects when the OLS bias is positive. This problem exists even if the instrument is very strong. Here we show that the same problem arises in fuzzy RD designs. A simple way to avoid this problem is to instead rely on the reduced form (or intent to treat) regression, which in this case is a sharp RD of the outcome on I(R > R0), to assess significance of the treatment effect.'
Monday 21 April 2025 12:00-13:00
Miss Talyah Greyling: Stellenbosch University
Topic: "Curvature of the Schooling-Earnings Profile and Heterogeneity of School Quality"
Venue: CGW Schumann_225 & Online via MS Teams
'Curvature of the Schooling-Earnings Profile and Heterogeneity of School Quality
Monday 12 May 2025 12:00-13:00
Miss Katrien Smuts: Bureau Of Economic Research
Topic: "Pass-through and bias in South Africa's household inflation expectations"
Venue: CGW Schumann_225 & BER Boardroom
Monday 26 May 2025 12:00-13:00
Prof Simon Franklin: Queen Mary University In London
Topic: "No Place Like Home? The Causal Effect of Housing Clearances in Central Addis Ababa"
Venue: CGW Schumann_225
Monday 02 June 2025 12:00-13:00
Dr Dawie van Lill: South African Reserve Bank & Stellenbosch University
Topic: "Revised Financial Conditions Index "
Venue: CGW SCHUMANN_225
Monday 21 July 2025 12:00-13:00
Izak Odendaal: Old Mutual Wealth Chief Investment Strategist
Topic: "Diverging fiscal policies and what it means for markets"
Venue: CGW Schumann_225
Download: sa-us-fiscal-july-2025.pdf (1.2 MB)
Monday 28 July 2025 12:00-13:00
Dr Neil Rankin: Ceo Of Predictive Insights & Stellenbosch University
Topic: "TBC"
Venue: CGW Schumann_225
Monday 04 August 2025 12:00-13:00
Prof Willem Boshoff: Stellenbosch University
Topic: "Two competing approaches in South African competition policy: merger control and anti-cartel enforcement over the past 30 years"
Venue: CGW SCHUMANN_225
Link to ERSA working paperavailable.
Monday 18 August 2025 12:00-13:00
Professor Johan Fourie: Stellenbosch University
Topic: "Economic History: TBC"
Venue: CGW Schumann_225
Monday 25 August 2025 12:00-13:00
Dr Stephen Taylor: Director In Education & Research Fellow Stellenbosch
Topic: "TBC"
Venue: CGW Schumann_225
Monday 01 September 2025 12:00-13:00
Prof Derek Yu: University Of The Western Cape
Topic: "Examining the teaching, assessment and research activities of the South African Economics Departments"
Venue: CGW Schumann_225
Monday 15 September 2025 12:00-13:00
Prof Hylton Hollander: University Of Cape Town
Topic: "Disinflation Policy in a Fiscal DSGE Model with Trend Inflation and Price Dispersion"
Venue: CGW Schumann_225

Earlier Seminars...