University of South Africa

About: University of South Africa is a education organization based out in Pretoria, South Africa. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Population. The organization has 8478 authors who have published 19960 publications receiving 237688 citations. The organization is also known as: Unisa.

Wagner's law: an econometric test for south africa, 1960-2006

Abstract: The main objective for this paper is to test Wagner's law by analysing the causal relationships between real government expenditure and real income for South Africa for the period 1960-2006. The paper tests the long-run relationship between the two variables using the autoregressive distributive lag approach to cointegration suggested by Pesaran et al. We use the Granger non-causality test procedure developed by Toda and Yamamoto, which uses a vector autoregression model to test for the causal link between the two. Evidence of cointegration is sufficient to establish a long-run relationship between government expenditure and income. However, support for Wagner's law would require unidirectional causality from income to government expenditure. Therefore, cointegration should be seen as a necessary condition for Wagner's law, but not sufficient. This research does find a long-run relationship between real per capita government expenditure and real per capita income. Results for the short-run causality find bidirectional causality. On the basis of empirical results in this paper, one may tentatively conclude that Wagner's law finds no support in South Africa.

Does natural selection favour taller stature among the tallest people on earth

Abstract: The Dutch are the tallest people on earth. Over the last 200 years, they have grown 20 cm in height: a rapid rate of increase that points to environmental causes. This secular trend in height is echoed across all Western populations, but came to an end, or at least levelled off, much earlier than in The Netherlands. One possibility, then, is that natural selection acted congruently with these environmentally induced changes to further promote tall stature among the people of the lowlands. Using data from the LifeLines study, which follows a large sample of the population of the north of The Netherlands (n = 94 516), we examined how height was related to measures of reproductive success (as a proxy for fitness). Across three decades (1935-1967), height was consistently related to reproductive output (number of children born and number of surviving children), favouring taller men and average height women. This was despite a later age at first birth for taller individuals. Furthermore, even in this low-mortality population, taller women experienced higher child survival, which contributed positively to their increased reproductive success. Thus, natural selection in addition to good environmental conditions may help explain why the Dutch are so tall.

Do banks and stock markets spur economic growth? Kenya's experience

Abstract: This paper investigates the dynamic causal relationship between bank–based financial development, stock market development, and economic growth in Kenya - during the period from 1980 to 2012. In order to address the problem of omitted variable bias, the study includes savings and investment as control variables - thereby creating a multivariate Granger–causality model. The method of means–removed average is employed to construct a bank–based financial development index and a stock market development index. Using the newly developed ARDL–bounds testing approach, the empirical results of this study reveal that there is a distinct unidirectional Granger–causal flow from economic growth to bank–based financial development in Kenya. This causal flow applies irrespective of whether the causality is estimated in the short run or in the long run. The study, however, fails to find any causal relationship between market–based financial development and economic growth, and between bank–based financial development and market–based financial development in Kenya. The study, therefore, concludes that the development of the Kenyan banking sector is largely driven by the country's real sector.