In an effort to foster a sense of belonging and equip students with essential research skills, Rhodes University's Department of Economics recently organised a three-day orientation and research workshop for new Masters and PhD students.

Rhodes University’s RU120 celebrations furthered its impact through the launch of two new ARUA/The Guild Africa-Europe Clusters of Research Excellence (CoREs), which took place on 08 March 2024.

The GradStar is a programme that recognizes the Top 100 students across the country based on leadership qualities and readiness for the workplace.

The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities (The Guild) have launched a new Africa-Europe Clusters of Research Excellence (CoRE) on Creative Economies: Cultures, Innovation and Sustainability, which includes Rhodes University.

Resilience is a theme in Mbongeni Shabangu's story. As a person living with a visual impairment, he had to constantly perform the arduous task of not allowing himself to be the product of his circumstances. At this year's March graduation ceremonies, Shabangu graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Computer Sciences and Economics) degree.

In a transforming society, the way we think about teaching economics needs to change. Economics lecturer, Mr David Fryer, won the Vice-Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2020 and presented his accompanying lecture last week, focusing on the potential to reconfigure undergraduate economics so that it is more in touch with the realities of students and the futures they face.

Ghana’s introduction of a a 1.5% tax on mobile money transactions in May 2022 has been watched closely by policymakers across Africa. The proponents of the electronic transaction levy (e-levy) argue that taxes on mobile money — commonly referred to in Ghana as MoMo — present an opportunity for cash-strapped governments to raise funds in the complex post-pandemic context.

Masters in Economics student Claire McCann was recently selected as one of thirty students to attend a highly competitive, fully-funded economics training programme.

On 31 March 2022, the South African Cultural Observatory (SACO) released its 2022 Economic Mapping Report of the Cultural and Creative Industries to a worldwide audience. This is the first comprehensive study of the contribution of the cultural and creative sector to the economy in the post COVID-19 environment.

Claire McCann, a Rhodes University Community Engagement student leader and joint Honours in Economics and Politics student, has been granted a Southern African Rhodes Scholarship to complete her Masters degree at the University of Oxford in England.

Botlhale Phurulla Modisaotsile has been elected as the Rhodes University Student Representative Council (SRC) President for 2022.

Rhodes University’s student body has entrusted 22-year-old Botlhale Phurulla Modisaotsile as the Student Representative Council (SRC) President for 2022.

Rhodes University’s Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) has welcomed its new Director, Professor Cyril Nhlanhla Mbatha, who assumed duties last month

Cultural and creative industries are being recognised for their contribution to GDP, job creation and innovation

The Rhodes University community is deeply saddened by the passing of Dr Allan William Buchanan Gray. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his wife, Gill, daughter Jennifer, and his two sons, William and Trevor.

Rhodes University staff member in the Economics department, Professor Gavin Keeton, discusses how South Africa needs to expand its job market to account for the number of unskilled workers in the country.

THE government is committed to building 9.6 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear power plants, but no one has any real idea how much this will cost

WHICHEVER way it voted on Sunday, Greece will still be faced with economic pain as the financially embattled country tries to adjust its domestic spending in line with what it can afford.

THE latest Reserve Bank Quarterly Bulletin confirms the sorry state of the South African economy. It also identifies strong headwinds that will hamper faster growth in the future

Young minds converged at the Southern Sun Hotel, OR Tambo International Airport, last week (18th-19th Sept) to compete in the 1st National Intervarsity Studentpreurship Challenge.

Rhodes University PhD candidate in the Department of Economics and Economic History, Nandi Fumbata, is attending the BRICS Network University (BRICS NU) Research Seminar and Winter School, currently underway at the University of Campinas in Brazil.

At the recent Jobs Summit, it was agreed that companies should annually disclose pay gaps between men and women employees.

The book industry – like many others – is under pressure from technological change. Can it re-invent itself leveraging off this technology?

ECONOMICS students are taught that "economics is about allocating the limited resources of societies to meet their unlimited wants".

There is extensive literature across arts policy, economics and social science exploring at a conceptual level the relative merits and demerits of both direct and indirect subsidies to the arts generally and film industries specifically.

CLAIMING that legalising trade in rhino horn is the solution to the problem of poaching is too simplistic. Answers to tricky public policy problems are often never black and white but, rather like rhinos, tend to come in various shades of grey. Simplistic arguments that suggest environmental and social problems can be easily tackled either by state ownership or by unfettered free markets usually tend to be wrong.

Dear Honourable Members, Ladies, Gentlemen It is possible for South Africa to exhibit sustainable high economic growth. This opportunity has been sorely neglected for decades (under the Nationalist and ANC governments), and unemployment, everyone’s central concern, remains one of the highest in the world.

Niki Cattaneo has been selected by the South African BRICS Think Tank as one of ten official delegates to the VII BRICS Academic Forum to be held in Moscow in May 2015.

Congratulations to Sam Munro for being awarded her M Sc degree with Distinction for the research topic entitled " A WATER FOOTPRINT ASSESSMENT: A CASE STUDY OF THE LOWER SUNDAYS RIVER VALLEY CITRUS FARMS, EASTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA'.

At a glittering post-Budget banquet on Wednesday 25th February, Rhodes 2014 Economics Honours graduate Liziwe Ntshweza was announced as the 1st Runner-Up in the postgraduate category of the prestigious annual Nedbank and Old Mutual Budget Speech competition.

The Department of Economics and Economic History was privileged to have Prof Luc D’Haese as the guest speaker at the annual Postgraduate Conference.

Samantha Munro, a Masters student in the Department of Economics and Economic History, was invited to present a paper on her research at the Water Footprint Symposium/Workshop at the University of the Free State on the 3-4 September 2014.

THE recent decision by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to grant Eskom an additional tariff hike next year to compensate it for additional costs highlights the need for regulators to avoid passing on overspending on infrastructure projects to consumers.

THE five-month platinum strike is thankfully at an end. Producers and workers must now focus on recovering as best they can.

The decision by the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee to increase interest rates by just 0.25%, rather than the 0.5% increments it has used in the past, highlights the difficulties policy makers face when rising inflation coincides with stagnant economic growth.