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- Development Dialogue Seminars
- Date Tuesday, 02 September 2014
The presentation will explore the viability of shale gas in South Africa from an economic lens. By focusing on issues such as geology, decline rates and breakeven costs of wells and exploring the relationship between gas prices and cash-flows, the presentation will seek to answer the core question of whether a shale revolution would occur in South Africa. In doing so, it will explore questions around the longevity of a shale revolution, the price at which shale gas is commercially viable, and the economic lessons from the US shale revolution. Finally, it will look at the outstanding research questions pertaining to economic and investment issues related to shale gas.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Saliem Fakir is the Head of the Living Planet Unit at the World Wildlife Fund South Africa. The Unit's work is focused on identifying ways to manage a transition to a low-carbon economy. Saliem has previously served as senior lecturer at the Department of Public Administration and Planning and Associate Director for the Center for Renewable and Sustainable Energy at the University of Stellenbosch, where he taught a course on renewable energy policy and financing of renewable energy projects.
He has also previously worked for Lereko Energy (Pty) Ltd (2006), an investment company focusing on project development and financial arrangements for renewable energy, biofuels, waste and water sectors. He also served as Director of the World Conservation Union South Africa (IUCN-SA) office for eight years (1998-2005). Prior to the IUCN he was the Manager for the Natural Resources and Management Unit at the Land and Agriculture Policy Center.
Saliem served on a number of Boards. Between, 2002-2005, he served as a chair of the Board of the National Botanical Institute. He also served on the board of the Fair Trade in Tourism Initiative, and was a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Reporting Initiative, based in Amsterdam. He currently serves on Boards of GreenCape, Fair-Trade Label South Africa, Center for Renewable and Energy Studies, and Center for Environmental Rights.
He is a regular columnist for the South African Center for Civil Society and Engineering News.
Saliem received a Senior Executive Management course at Harvard University in 2000, a Master's in Environmental Science from Wye College, London, and a B.Sc. with honours in molecular biology from WITS.
- Date Thursday, 02 October 2014
- Venue TIPS Boardroom, 227 Lange St, Nieuw Muckleneuk, Pretoria
- Main Speakers Saliem Fakir, Head of Living Planet Unit, World Wildlife Fund South Africa
- tips_shale_gas_development_dialogue_2_october_2014.pdf (1583 Downloads)
Speaker – Professor Stephanie Seguino
How Economies Grow: Alice Amsden and the
Real World Economics of Late Industrialisation
4 September 2014 - 18:30 for 19:00 (light dinner served)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Stephanie Seguino is Professor of Economics at the University of Vermont, USA; Professorial Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London; and Research Scholar at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. Prior to obtaining a Ph.D. from American University, she served as economist in Haiti for several years in the pre- and post-Baby Doc era. Her current research explores the relationship between inequality, growth and development. A major focus of that work explores the effect of gender equality on macroeconomic outcomes. She has also examined the gender and race effects of contractionary monetary policy. She is an instructor in the African Program for Rethinking Development Economics (APORDE), Associate Editor of Feminist Economics and Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, and a member of the editorial board of Review of Keynesian Economics, as well as past president of the International Association for Feminist Economics. More recently, she was guest editor of a special issue of Feminist Economics on the global economic crisis. She has worked with a wide variety of international organisations and trade unions including the UNDP, UNRISD, World Bank, AFL-CIO and ITUC.
Alice H. Amsden, an expert in economic development who served as the Barton L. Weller Professor of Political Economy in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, died suddenly on March 14 at her home in Cambridge. She was 68. A prolific scholar, Amsden wrote extensively about the process of industrialisation in emerging economies, particularly in Asia. Her work frequently emphasised the importance of the state as a creator of economic growth, and challenged the idea that globalisation had produced generally uniform conditions in which emerging economies could find a one-size-fits-all path to prosperity.
- Date Thursday, 04 September 2014
- Venue SEBS seminar suite, 1st Floor ???????? New Commerce Building, West Campus, Wits University, Johannesburg
- presentation_stephanie_seguino_amsden_memorial_lecture.pdf (1430 Downloads)
TIPS recently completed a study investigating the impact of the controversial Eskom electricity supply agreement with Aluminium mining conglomerate BHP Billiton using a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) methodology to assess the costs and benefits to society of cancelling the special pricing agreement (SPA) that Eskom has with BHP Billiton. The CBA considered the following scenarios (i) Continuing with the current electricity arrangement (ii) Removing the electricity subsidy permitted to the BHP aluminium smelters and allowing the electricity price they pay to adjust to megaflex rates, and (iii) Comparing scenarios (i) and (ii).
The focus of this Development Dialogue will be to present the quantitative aspects of this research. The Development Dialogue calls for an interesting discussion as this is a hotly debated issue in South Africa at the moment, with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) having received a request from Eskom in 2012 to investigate its contract with BHP.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dinga Fatman has a Masters degree in Economics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He joined TIPS in 2011 to provide research assistance in the industrial policy pillar. His Masters dissertation topic was entitled: “Labour Regulations and Firm Performance in South Africa”. Dinga's general research interests involve South Africa's investment climate issues and advanced econometrics.
- Date Tuesday, 22 July 2014
- Main Speakers Dinga Fatman, Economist at TIPS
TIPS recently completed a study investigating how South Africa can improve the strategic use of its technical infrastructure (which include SABS, NMISA, SANAS, and NRCS) in a way that maximises enforcement by creating linkages with other measures such as import controls, consumer protection and customs and administrative procedures in order to grow the local manufacturing sector and facilitate manufacturing exports.
This Development Dialogue presents an overview detailing the importance of technical regulations in protecting local manufacturers and consumers, but also looking at how globally these regulations can/are being used as a form of protection.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Mbofholowo Tsedu is an Assistant Programme Manager for the Industrial Development pillar at TIPS primarily focused on trade and industrial policy issues. Mbofholowo has been engaged in numerous industrial policy-related studies including on designation, local content reporting, sector strategies and localisation. He also has been responsible for providing supplementary research support to TIPS's other pillars. Mbofholowo has an economics degree from the University of Pretoria and is currently completing a MSc programme focused on Industrialisation, Trade and Economic Policy at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Date Friday, 04 July 2014
- Organisation TIPS
- development_dialogue_seminar_-technical_regulations.pdf (1431 Downloads)
TIPS recently completed a study investigating how South Africa can improve the strategic use of its technical infrastructure in a way that maximises enforcement by creating linkages with other measures such as import controls, consumer protection and customs and administrative procedures in order to grow the local manufacturing sector and facilitate manufacturing exports.
The main the main technical institutions of South Africa are SANAS – the South African National Accreditation System; NRCS – the National Regulator of Compulsory Specifications; SABS – the South African Bureau of Standards; and NMISA – the National Metrology Institute of South Africa.
This Development Dialogue presents an overview detailing the importance of technical regulations in protecting local manufacturers and consumers, but also looks at how globally these regulations can/are being used as a form of protection.
Main Speaker: Mbofholowo Tsedu
Mbofholowo is an Assistant Programme Manager for the Industrial Development pillar at TIPS primarily focused on trade and industrial policy issues. Mbofholowo has been engaged in numerous industrial policy-related studies including on designation, local content reporting, sector strategies and localisation. He also has been responsible for providing supplementary research support to TIPS's other pillars. Mbofholowo has an economics degree from the University of Pretoria and is completing a MSc programme focused on Industrialisation, Trade and Economic Policy at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Date Friday, 04 July 2014
- Venue TIPS Boardroom, 227 Lange Street, Nieuw Muckleneuk, Pretoria
- Main Speakers Mbofholowo Tsedu is an Assistant Programme Manager for the Industrial Development pillar at TIPS primarily focused on trade and industrial policy issues. Mbofholowo has been engaged in numerous industrial policy-related studies including on designation, local content reporting, sector strategies and localisation. He also has been responsible for providing supplementary research support to TIPS’s other pillars. Mbofholowo has an economics degree from the University of Pretoria and is completing a MSc programme focused on Industrialisation, Trade and Economic Policy at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
- development_dialogue_seminar-tech_reg.pdf (1426 Downloads)