IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v10y2022i9p226-d915553.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Social Investment Influence Poverty and Economic Growth in South Africa: A Cointegration Analysis?

Author

Listed:
  • Kanayo Ogujiuba

    (School of Development Studies, University of Mpumalanga, Mbombela 1200, South Africa)

  • Ntombifuthi Mngometulu

    (School of Development Studies, University of Mpumalanga, Mbombela 1200, South Africa)

Abstract

Despite having a middle-income status, many South African households are either already in or are about to fall into poverty. The income and wealth distribution in South Africa is among the most uneven in the world, and many households lack even the most basic access to healthcare, clean energy, and clean water. Although it has increased government spending, South Africa’s government has made significant steps to combat poverty and inequality and encourage economic growth. Understanding the connection between social investment, poverty, inequality, and economic growth is, therefore, necessary to comprehend the ambiguity that currently prevails. In order to analyze the effects of social investment on poverty and economic growth in South Africa between 1990 and 2020, this paper uses the cointegration technique. The cointegration estimates indicate that there is no correlation between social investment, poverty, inequality, and economic development. According to study findings, South Africa’s macroeconomic policies, which seem to be more urban-focused, need to be modified and redirected into inclusive policies with strict constraints to assure their implementation. The transformation of rural and township life will be aided by this plan.

Suggested Citation

  • Kanayo Ogujiuba & Ntombifuthi Mngometulu, 2022. "Does Social Investment Influence Poverty and Economic Growth in South Africa: A Cointegration Analysis?," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:10:y:2022:i:9:p:226-:d:915553
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/10/9/226/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/10/9/226/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    2. Haroon Bhorat & Carlene Van Der Westhuizen, 2012. "Poverty, Inequality and the Nature of Economic Growth in South Africa," Working Papers 12151, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    3. Hasna Khemili & Mounir Belloumi, 2018. "Cointegration Relationship between Growth, Inequality and Poverty In Tunisia," International Journal of Applied Economics, Finance and Accounting, Online Academic Press, vol. 2(1), pages 8-18.
    4. Augustin Kwasi Fosu, 2018. "The Recent Growth Resurgence in Africa and Poverty Reduction: The Context and Evidence," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 27(1), pages 92-107.
    5. Gian Maria Tomat, 2007. "Revisiting poverty and welfare dominance," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 651, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    6. Haroon Bhorat & Ravi Kanbur & Natasha Mayet, 2013. "The impact of sectoral minimum wage laws on employment, wages, and hours of work in South Africa," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-27, December.
    7. M. Hashem Pesaran & Yongcheol Shin & Richard J. Smith, 2001. "Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 289-326.
    8. Amina Ebrahim & Murray Leibbrandt & Vimal Ranchhod, 2017. "The effects of the Employment Tax Incentive on South African employment," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-5, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Rocco Zizzamia & Simone Schotte & Murray Leibbrandt, 2019. "Snakes and Ladders and Loaded Dice: Poverty dynamics and inequality in South Africa between 2008-2017," SALDRU Working Papers 235, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    10. Augustin Kwasi Fosu, 2009. "Inequality and the Impact of Growth on Poverty: Comparative Evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(5), pages 726-745.
    11. Manh Vu Le & Terukazu Suruga, 2005. "Foreign direct investment, public expenditure and economic growth: the empirical evidence for the period 1970-2001," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 45-49.
    12. Itumeleng More & Goodness C. Aye, 2017. "Effect of social infrastructure investment on economic growth and inequality in South Africa: a SEM approach," International Journal of Economics and Business Research, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(2), pages 95-109.
    13. Sin-Yu Ho & Bernard Njindan Iyke, 2018. "Finance-growth-poverty nexus: a re-assessment of the trickle-down hypothesis in China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 221-247, August.
    14. Amina Ebrahim & Murray Leibbrandt & Vimal Ranchhod, 2017. "The effects of the Employment Tax Incentive on South African employment," WIDER Working Paper Series 005, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Graeme Smith, 2011. "Chinese Economic Development – By Chris Bramall," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(2), pages 208-210, July.
    16. Johansen, Soren, 1991. "Estimation and Hypothesis Testing of Cointegration Vectors in Gaussian Vector Autoregressive Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(6), pages 1551-1580, November.
    17. Jorge Garza-Rodriguez, 2018. "Poverty and Economic Growth in Mexico," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-9, September.
    18. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    19. Manamba EPAPHRA & John MASSAWE, 2016. "Investment and Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis for Tanzania," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 3(4), pages 578-609, December.
    20. Robert J. Barro, 1999. "Inequality, Growth, and Investment," NBER Working Papers 7038, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Kofi Kamasa & Grace Ofori-Abebrese, 2015. "Wagner or Keynes for Ghana? Government Expenditure and Economic Growth Dynamics. A ‘VAR’ Approach," Journal of Reviews on Global Economics, Lifescience Global, vol. 4, pages 177-183.
    22. Paul Mosley & John Hudson & Arjan Verschoor, 2004. "Aid, Poverty Reduction and the 'New Conditionality'," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(496), pages 217-243, June.
    23. Pravakar Sahoo & Ranjan Kumar Dash & Geethanjali Nataraj, 2012. "China¡¯S Growth Story: The Role Of Physical And Social Infrastructure," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 53-75, March.
    24. Servaas van der Berg & Krige Siebrits & Bongisa Lekezwa, 2010. "Efficiency and equity effects of social grants in South Africa," Working Papers 15/2010, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    25. Augustin Kwasi Fosu, 2015. "Growth, Inequality and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recent Progress in a Global Context," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 44-59, March.
    26. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    27. Barro, Robert J, 2000. "Inequality and Growth in a Panel of Countries," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 5-32, March.
    28. Hasna Khemili & Mounir Belloumi, 2018. "Cointegration Relationship between Growth, Inequality and Poverty In Tunisia," International Journal of Applied Economics, Finance and Accounting, Online Academic Press, vol. 2(1), pages 8-18.
    29. Peter Howitt, 1999. "Steady Endogenous Growth with Population and R & D Inputs Growing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(4), pages 715-730, August.
    30. Gaby Umbach & Igor Tkalec, 2021. "Social Investment Policies in the EU: Actively Concrete or Passively Abstract?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 403-414.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Diego León Peña-Orozco & María Eugenia Londoño-Escobar & Andrés Mauricio Paredes Rodríguez & Jesús Gonzalez-Feliu & Gonzalo Navarrete Meneses, 2023. "Prioritizing Public Policy Implementation for Rural Development in a Developing Country via Multicriteria Classification," Economies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, December.
    2. Zaman, Khalid, 2023. "Navigating the Perils of a Banana Republic: Lessons from Pakistan's Economic Crisis," MPRA Paper 116713, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 08 Mar 2023.
    3. Yeboah, Samuel, 2023. "Balancing Growth and Green: Strategies for Sustainable Development in Developing Economies," MPRA Paper 118180, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 20 Jun 2023.
    4. Kanayo K. Ogujiuba, 2022. "Which Demographic Quintile Benefits from Public Health Expenditure in Nigeria: A Marginal Benefit Analysis," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amponsah, Mary & Agbola, Frank W. & Mahmood, Amir, 2021. "The impact of informality on inclusive growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does financial inclusion matter?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 1259-1286.
    2. Zezethu Zandile & Andrew Phiri, 2019. "Fdi As A Contributing Factor To Economic Growth In Burkina Faso: How True Is This?," Global Economy Journal (GEJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(01), pages 1-27, March.
    3. Mohammed Bouznit & Rachida Aïssaoui, 2024. "The impacts of climate change factors and innovative capabilities on food production in Algeria: evidence from ARDL model," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(9), pages 23889-23908, September.
    4. Kholeka Mdingi & Sin-Yu Ho, 2023. "Income inequality and economic growth: An empirical investigation in South Africa," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 2230027-223, June.
    5. Ben Hamouda, Abderrazek, 2018. "La qualité de gouvernance et le triangle croissance-inégalité-pauvreté [The relationship between growth-inequality-poverty triangle and governance]," MPRA Paper 92207, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Johannes W. Fedderke & John M. Luiz, 2005. "Does Human Generate Social and Institutional Capital? Exploring Evidence From Time Series Data in a Middle Income Country," Working Papers 029, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    7. Simplice A. Asongu & Voxi Amavilah & Antonio R. Andrés, 2014. "Economic Implications of Business Dynamics for KE-Associated Economic Growth and Inclusive Development in African Countries," Research Africa Network Working Papers 14/023, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    8. Asongu, Simplice & Boateng, Agyenim & Akamavi, Raphael, 2016. "Mobile Phone Innovation and Inclusive Human Development: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 75046, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Dakpogan, Arnaud & Smit, Eon, 2018. "The effect of electricity losses on GDP in Benin," MPRA Paper 89545, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Cutrini, Eleonora & Mendez, Carlos, 2023. "Convergence clubs and spatial structural change in the European Union," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 167-181.
    11. Turnovsky, S., 2000. "Growth in an Open Economy: some Recent Developments," Papers 5, Warwick - Development Economics Research Centre.
    12. Mohammed TOUITOU & Ahmed BOUDEGHDEGH, 2021. "Estimating the relationship between governance, economic growth, inequality and poverty," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(3(628), A), pages 115-128, Autumn.
    13. Zoltán J. Ács & Pontus Braunerhjelm & David B. Audretsch & Bo Carlsson, 2015. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 7, pages 129-144, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Frank Gyimah Sackey & Emmanuel Orkoh & Mohammed Musah, 2024. "Investigating the impact of institutional quality under the petroleum price deregulation policy regime on the economic growth of Ghana," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 4(11), pages 1-21, November.
    15. Zeng, Jinli, 2003. "Reexamining the interaction between innovation and capital accumulation," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 541-560, December.
    16. Innocent .U. Duru & Bartholomew .O.N. Okafor & Millicent Adanne Eze & Gabriel .O. Ebenyi, 2020. "Foreign Aid and Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria," Growth, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 7(1), pages 35-50.
    17. Saten Kumar & Gail Pacheco, 2010. "What Determines the Long run Growth in Kenya?," EERI Research Paper Series EERI_RP_2010_16, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    18. Singh, Tarlok, 2010. "Does domestic saving cause economic growth? A time-series evidence from India," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 231-253, March.
    19. Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2002. "15 Years of New Growth Economics : What Have we Learnt?," Journal Economía Chilena (The Chilean Economy), Central Bank of Chile, vol. 5(2), pages 5-15, August.
    20. Martin Zagler & Georg Dürnecker, 2003. "Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 397-418, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:10:y:2022:i:9:p:226-:d:915553. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.