SCIS Working Papers

Corporate financialisation: a conceptual clarification and critical review of the literature

Authors: Joel Rabinovich and Niall Reddy

SCIS Working paper | Number 66
May 2024

Corporate financialisation (CF) comprises a major field of financialisation studies centred on the belief that significant changes in corporate governance and business models have been driven by financial imperatives, which have had a profound impact on investment habits, labour policies, organisational practices and the distribution of revenues. Experiencing explosive growth in recent years, this field has become mired in conceptual ambiguity, mirroring problems with financialisation studies as a whole. While seeking to restore some conceptual clarity and clearly delineate the boundaries of the concept, this paper offers a detailed review of empirical work on CF. 

The Inequality—Financial Markets Nexus: Implications for Developing Metrics for Voluntary Disclosures

Authors: Zoheb Khan, Stuart Theobald, Arabo K. Ewinyu, David Francis, Etumeleng Mogale, and Imraan Valodia

SCIS Working paper | Number 61
January 2024

Can a disclosure framework reduce overall socio-economic inequality, or will it shift inequality somewhere else, for example, to other firms, other regions, or out of the firm and the private sector and into households? Are there material regional variations in the perceptions of the causes and effects of socio-economic inequality? What is the appropriate level of focus for an inequality disclosure framework? These are some of the questions considered in this paper that carefully considers the relationship between financial markets and inequality.

Shareholder value orientation, corporate cash piles and the myth of financial accumulation

Author: Niall Reddy

SCIS Working paper | Number 46
March 2023

Financialization theories claim shareholder pressure has forced non-financial corporations into a “turn to finance” – an attempt to generate revenue from financial activities rather than production. This paper critiques this theory, showing that the main evidence in its favor – increasing financial portfolios – stems from factors not related to shareholder based governance.

Enabling inclusive economic ecosystems in Africa: A role for city governments?

Author: Mamokete Lijane

SCIS Working Paper | Number 44
November 2022

This paper assesses the impact of sovereign debt on efforts to address global inequality and development.

Towards a Tracking System to Enforce Competition Law in the southern and east African Region

Authors: Earnest Manjengwa, Karissa Moothoo Padayachie, Grace Nsomba, Ntombifuthi Tshabalala and Thando Vilakazi

SCIS Working Paper | Number 43
November 2022

The paper explores the role of market power in exacerbating inequality by looking at the effects of competition on income and wealth distribution. It argues that the conceptual framework, proposed in the paper, can be used to better understand market power and inequality in various African countries in order to develop appropriate responses.

 
Characterising the Relationship Between Market Power and Inequality in Southern and East Africa. Why It Matters?

Authors: Karissa Moothoo Padayachie and Thando Vilakazi

SCIS Working Paper | Number 42

This paper focuses on competition in the southern and east Africa region where there is a range of large firms with significant market power operating across political borders. This paper provides preliminary reflections on what we know about that relationship, and details reasons why we need to understand it.

Ownership and inequality: Policy interventions in South Africa and possible ways forward

Authors:  Sha'ista Goga and Imraan Valodia

SCIS Working Paper | Number 41
November 2022

This paper reviews some of the policies that have been introduced to address ownership diversity and broadening ownership. Policies like B-BBEE have gone some way towards doing this but not far enough.
 

Competition and Inequality in Developing Countries

Author: Sha'ista Goga

SCIS Working Paper | Number 40
November 2022

This paper examines the link between competition policy and inequality, with a specific focus on the impact on inequality of concentration and competitive abuses by firms. In particular, the paper focuses on the role that concentration and a lack of competition have on inequality more generally and specifically within the context of developing countries. 

Policy Note | Number 65 | Macro Fiscal Review: Reflections on public finances ahead of the 2024 Budget Review 

SCIS Working Paper | Number 64 | The Role of Fiscal Think Tanks in Fiscal Policy: Global patterns and lessons for South Africa

Author/s: Philipp Krause | 2024

This paper looks at fiscal policy more broadly through the institutions of policy-making rather than more narrowly through the institutions of budgeting. It considers who shares the fiscal policy space with the ministry of finance and how the fiscal policy agenda is set.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 62 | Financial directions and budget trends in government healthcare

Authors: Michael Sachs, Fareed Abdullah, Thokozile Madonko, Kim Jonas, Nevilene Slingers and Tanaka Zvawada | 2023

This working paper provides evidence and analysis that can assist in taking forward the agenda of the Presidential Health Compact. It does so by reviewing the financial performance of the government healthcare system over the last decade.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 60 | Austerity Without Consolidation: Fiscal Policy and Spending Choices in Budget 2023 

Authors: Michael Sachs, Rashaad Amra, Thokozile Madonko, and Owen Willcox | June 2023

This report shows that continuous austerity over the last decade has eroded the quality and value of public services on which the majority of South Africans rely. With spending choices resulting in pay increases for government employees held well below the rate of inflation, and across-the-board spending reductions cutting deeply into healthcare, basic education, criminal justice, and social services.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 39 | Public services, government employment and the budget

Authors: Michael Sachs, Arabo K. Ewinyu, Olwethu Shedi | October 2022

This report presents independent analysis using publicly available data on budgets, audited spending outcomes, and government plans for future expenditure.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 63 | Cook, S and Rani, U. 2023. Platform work in developing economies: Can digitalisation drive structural transformation?

This paper explores how digital economic activity, specifically platform work, affects structural transformations in developing economies. It questions whether digital transformation can drive human, inclusive, and sustainable development by moving labour to higher-productivity sectors. The analysis highlights obstacles such as the disconnection between skills, productivity, and wages, and the concentration of capital. The paper concludes with policy recommendations to guide digital economic transformation towards equitable development.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 47 | Castel-Branco, R. 2022. The Machamba is for life: navigating a precarious labour market in rural Mozambique 

This paper examines the peasantry's evolving role in contemporary capitalism in Mozambique, critiquing Meillassoux's ideas on the domestic community. It highlights how camponeses—ranging from landless laborers to capitalist farmers—navigate labor insecurity through their cultivation of the machamba (field), which offers both autonomy and livelihood but also perpetuates precarity and neoliberalism. The paper concludes that while peasant practices resist land dispossession, they also reinforce existing power structures. Nevertheless, land struggles continue to be the primary driver of contentious politics in Mozambique.

SCIS Working Papers | Numbers 31 - 38

The Future of Work(ers) Research Project launches eight new interdisciplinary working papers on the intersection of digital technologies, the changing world of work(ers) and inequality in the global South. This impressive collection of papers by scholars from the global South is the product of a three-year research project, led by the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. Much of the scholarship on the impact of digital technologies on the world of work has focused on the global North. These papers showcase cutting-edge research on the implications of digitisation for work and workers across a diversity of sectors in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, India and South Africa. The papers span Brazil’s manufacturing sector, agritechs in Ghana, click farm workers in Brazil, warehouse workers in Argentina, and various forms of location based platform work (incusing food couriers and beauty workers) in Brazil, Columbia and India.  

The working papers can all be downloaded here:

SCIS Working Paper | Number 38 | Komarraju, S.A. With and against Platformisation: Men in care professions and the gendered dynamics of the future of work(ers). 

The research highlights the gendered focus in platform economy studies, often overlooking men in feminized care professions. It argues for broadening the concept of feminization in platform work beyond women's presence, using ethnographic research on male workers in cleaning and salon jobs in India. The paper explores these men's experiences with platformisation, their resistance and adaptation, and how they navigate their masculinity in feminized roles.

 SCIS Working Paper | Number  37 | Souza Santos, L. 2022. The impact of digital labour platforms on the conditions of food couriers in Rio de Janeiro. 

The article examines the impact of digitalisation and platformisation on food couriers in Rio de Janeiro, focusing on their work conditions and professional trajectories. Based on 500 surveys and 100 interviews, it identifies three distinct groups of couriers: those resisting platformisation, those using it as a temporary job, and younger workers who see precarious work as normal but hope to change professions. The study highlights the structural precariousness of their work, worsened by low incomes and long hours, and explores the continuities and changes brought by digital platforms.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 36 | Sanchez Vargas, D. and O. Maldonado. 2022.  My boss, the app: Algorithmic management and labour process in delivery platforms in Colombia.

This paper examines the impact of algorithms on working conditions for platform workers in Colombia, focusing on couriers, drivers, and domestic workers. It analyzes how digital tools and algorithmic management allocate, monitor, and evaluate work, influencing worker behavior and emerging practices of resistance or compliance. The study draws on Science and Technology Studies and Organisation Studies to explore the human-machine interactions and the new inequalities created by algorithmic management in the gig economy.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 35 | Nair, G. and J. Divyadarshi. 2022. Unexceptional neoliberalism: enterprise and informality in the gig economy of India. 

This paper explores the conditions of gig work in India, highlighting its expansion and the precarity faced by workers. It examines whether gig work, with its lack of regulation and social security, extends informal labour practices to new sectors. Through interviews with gig workers, the paper analyses how neoliberal policies and algorithmic controls, combined with traditional constraints of caste, class, and gender, affect workers who are viewed as autonomous entrepreneurs by the State and digital platforms.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 34 | Grohman, R. Govari, C., Amaral, A., and M. Aquino. 2022. Click farm platforms and informal work in Brazil. 

This paper examines click farm work in Brazil, revealing how it updates and reproduces traditional informal labor practices. Through digital ethnography and worker interviews, it explores the connections between informal work and click farms, focusing on cultural extensions via WhatsApp, the role of YouTubers in promoting neoliberalism, and boundaries around piracy. The study highlights how click farms intensify micro-work and "fauxtomation," reflecting broader neoliberal and informal work dynamics in the global South.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 33 | Akorsu, A. and A. Britwum. 2022. The architecture of players in Ghana's digitalising agriculture. 

This paper investigates the impact of digital technologies on agriculture in Ghana, focusing on how these technologies are shifting from being viewed as public goods to commodities that farmers must fully finance. Using the food regimes approach, it examines the proliferation of agritech platforms and their role in the international digital ecosystem, highlighting concerns about the exploitation of farmers. The study calls for better conceptual tools to evaluate development alternatives and ensure that digital technologies benefit poor farmers in Ghana.

SCIS Working Paper  | Number 32 | Tessarin, M. and P. Morceiro. 2022. Labour market transformations in the era of new technologies: an analysis by regions, gender and industries in Brazil. 

This paper analyses the impact of new technologies on the Brazilian formal labour market, focusing on regional, sectoral, and gender disparities. It assesses the risk of digitalization across different occupations and industries, revealing that jobs in high-risk sectors are concentrated regionally and by gender. The study found a significant decline in employment from 2011 to 2019, particularly affecting women in vulnerable sectors. It calls for tailored public policies to address these disparities and integrate educational, regional, and technological strategies to mitigate the impact of digitalization on formal jobs.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 31 | Atzeni, M. and B. Kenny. 2022. The labour process and workers' rights at Mercado Libre: hiding exploitation through regulation in the digital economy. 

This paper examines Mercado Libre in Argentina, Latin America's largest e-commerce platform, focusing on the impact of digitalized labour processes in warehousing. It finds that workers face fragmented, temporary jobs with stressful conditions due to algorithmic and human management. The study highlights the mixed role of trade unions in protecting workers and suggests that the Argentinian experience offers lessons for labour organizing in South Africa and the broader global South. It also sets the stage for future comparative research on labour relations in these regions.

Webster, E., and F. Masikane. 2022. I just want to survive: A comparative study of food courier riders in three African cities. FES | SCIS | Wits University: Johannesburg.

A new form of precarious work has emerged in the digital economy, characterized by algorithmic management that promises flexibility but results in long hours, no paid leave, and lack of social security for food courier riders in Accra, Johannesburg, and Nairobi. Riders face high risks without basic safety protections, while algorithmic management extends authoritarian control and deepens global inequality. However, this same technology also enhances workers' collective bargaining power, enabling the formation of union-like collectives that offer mutual aid and the potential for strikes.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 28 | Mehta B.S, Laha, S and Sharma A.N. 2022. Indian Labour Market: Post-Liberalisation Trajectory and the Arrival of Digital Technology

SCIS Working Paper | Number 27 | Ewinyu, A, Masikane, F and Webster, E. 2021. Working Alone in South Africa: A Tale of Increased Precarity and Deepened Inequality 

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered the world of work in South Africa, exposing and exacerbating pre-existing inequalities. While the shift to home-based work was less disruptive for higher-skilled, professional workers with access to resources, informal sector workers faced severe insecurity and hardship. This paper examines the impact of remote work on various socio-economic groups in South Africa, revealing that the pandemic has highlighted and deepened inequalities related to race, gender, and socio-economic status. It argues for a hybrid work model and calls for better recognition and support for home-based workers to address these disparities and ensure fair treatment and protection in the evolving work landscape.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 11 | Srivastava, R.S. 2021. Interrrogating a Framework for Universal Social Protection in India

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered the world of work in South Africa, exposing and exacerbating pre-existing inequalities. While the shift to home-based work was less disruptive for higher-skilled, professional workers with access to resources, informal sector workers faced severe insecurity and hardship. This paper examines the impact of remote work on various socio-economic groups in South Africa, revealing that the pandemic has highlighted and deepened inequalities related to race, gender, and socio-economic status. It argues for a hybrid work model and calls for better recognition and support for home-based workers to address these disparities and ensure fair treatment and protection in the evolving work landscape.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 10 | Cierpe, J.T. 2020. On-Demand Platforms Workers in Columbia: A Labour Relationship in Disguise

This article explores the future of digital work in Colombia, focusing on on-demand platform workers and the implications of their legal vacuum. It uses secondary data to analyze labor changes over the past 30 years within a neoliberal framework, highlighting issues of informality. The paper reviews the types of platforms operating in Colombia, examines the legal gaps affecting these workers, and discusses studies that provide specific insights into their situation.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 9 | Naidoo, K. 2020. Innovation, Digital Platform Technologies and Employment: An Overview of Key Issues and Emerging Trends in South Africa 

This paper profiles the South African labour market and explores digital platform labour, highlighting its scope and quality issues. With approximately 135,000 platform workers in South Africa, the paper notes concerns about low wages and poor working conditions. It discusses challenges in regulating platform work due to independent contractor classifications and examines emerging worker organizations that extend beyond traditional trade unions.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 8 | Ali, R. and Muianga, C. 2020. The Future of Worker(ers) in Mozambique in the Digital Era 

This paper examines the emerging digital platform and gig work in Mozambique, highlighting its impact on work conditions and labor relations. Despite limited ICT access and the nascent stage of digital work, recent growth in start-ups and the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated its development. The study finds that digital gig work exacerbates existing labor market issues, characterized by informality and insecurity, and notes the absence of legislation and trade unions. It argues for a broader analysis of work, including digital and informal forms, to inform effective public policies.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 7 | Osorio, V.V. 2020. Not a Fairy Tale: Unicorns and Social Protection of Gig Workers in Columbia 

In Colombia, the rapid growth of the digital platform Rappi Inc., valued over $1 billion(,what the venture capital business called a unicorn company). has occurred without adequate labour protections for gig workers, who are classified as independent contractors. The absence of a regulatory framework has led to significant profit imbalances between capital and labour. In response, workers have formed the Movimiento Nacional de Repartidores de Plataformas Digitales (MNRP) and a trade union via an app, Unidapp. The paper also explores debates around universal basic income and the Programa Ingreso Solidario (PIS), highlighting ongoing discussions about social protection and public policy reforms.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 6 | Berhane, Z. 2020. Making the case for a more comprehensive and equitable intervention in the digital economy

This paper analyses Ethiopia's social protection programs, which cover about 21% of the population, focusing on coverage, adequacy, and expansion options. It highlights political and financial challenges, including the government's use of social protection for political stability and the reliance on donor funding. The paper provides cost estimates for implementing social pensions, child benefits, and disability grants, suggesting these options are affordable with domestic resource mobilization and calls for restructuring to enhance inclusivity.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 5 | Matthews, T. 2020. Traversing the cracks: social protection toward the achievement of social justice, equality and dignity in South Africa

South Africa's extensive social protection system fails to address deep socio-economic inequalities, particularly for black African women, exacerbated by ɳ°ÍÌåÓý¹ÙÍø_2024Å·ÖÞ±­²©²Êapp@. The paper critiques how social protection policies can reinforce structural inequality and highlights issues with insufficient grants and the digitalisation of cash transfers. It calls for a more inclusive and equitable approach, linked with labor market policies, to effectively tackle these inequalities.

Alternative Visions for an Equitable and Sustainable Postɳ°ÍÌåÓý¹ÙÍø_2024Å·ÖÞ±­²©²Êapp@ Economic Recovery

Author: Siviwe Mhlana

SCIS Working Paper | Number 29
July 2022

This report analyses several economic recovery policy proposals influencing the international discussion on the post-ɳ°ÍÌåÓý¹ÙÍø_2024Å·ÖÞ±­²©²Êapp@ economic recovery. Its main aim is to determine the extent to which each of these recovery plans reflects issues concerning the global South, particularly increasing vulnerability to external debt, inefficient tax regimes, declining employment security and the lack of or inadequate access to social protection and social services. The report also seeks to identify the policies required to improve livelihoods as well as build resilient economies in the global South in the medium to long term. It places emphasis on the experiences, concerns and strategies of activists, policymakers and indigenous communities in the global South for developing pathways towards a green, just and sustainable economy for all.

SCIS Working Papers | Numbers 18 -26

The Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, with support from the Open Society Foundation, conducted a study focussing on black economic empowerment policy. Whilst most agree that progress with empowerment policy has been limited, there remains no clear framework for monitoring progress or evaluating outcomes. The study locates empowerment within an analysis of wealth accumulation and the distribution of assets in a changing economy. It sought to identify pathways to a more inclusive economy by considering how the idea of empowerment might relate to the possibilities for growth and national development in South Africa. This BEE Working Papers series, produced by leading scholars, policy makers and practitioners, seeks to engage in dialogue with civil society, business and government by providing a clearer definition of the meaning of BEE and a reappraisal of its relationship with other policy objective.  

• SCIS Working Paper | Number 26 | Wandile Sihlobo and Mzukisi Qobo | September 2021 | Addressing constraints to South Africa’s agriculture inclusiveness

• SCIS Working Paper | Number 25 | Sumayya Goga and Elvis Korku Avenyo | September 2021 | Industrial policy, the manufacturing sector and black empowerment

• SCIS Working Paper | Number 24 | Victor Kgalema, Carmel Marock and Stephanie Allais | April 2021 | The alignment of black economic empowerment and skills policies
  
  
• SCIS Working Paper | Number 23 | Lumkile Mondi | September 2021 | Eskom, IDC, DBSA: BEE and empowerment
  
  
• SCIS Working Paper | Number 22 | Liberty Mncube & Hardin Ratshisusu | September 2021 | Competition policy and black empowerment
  
  
• SCIS Working Paper | Number 21 | David Francis and Imraan Valodia | September 2021 | Black Economic Empowerment: A Review of the Literature

• SCIS Working Paper | Number 20 | Michelle Joubert | Date 2021 | How to assess transformation of ownership of the South African private sector
  
  
• SCIS Working Paper | Number 19 | Duma Gqubule | April 2021 | Black Economic Empowerment Transactions in South Africa after 1994

• SCIS Working Paper | Number 18 | Alex M Mashilo & Renai Moothilal | September 2021 | Black economic empowerment in the automotive manufacturing industry

Author: Dev Nathan

SCIS Working Paper | Number 17
September 2021

This working paper explores the way in which knowledge can be turned into a monopoly and enable the capture of rent, or income in excess of what can be earned by commoditised, non-monopolised knowledge. Arguing that the monopolisation of knowledge has a long history in the creation of inequality, including gender inequality within a society, it considers the ways in which knowledge and inequality interact in small-scale agricultural societies and in large-scale capitalism. 

The paper utilizes the concept of knowledge economy and considers how the relationship between knowledge and inequality can be understood as a form of contingent articulation of different social and economic processes. This nexus of knowledge and inequality is looked at in more detail in the context of patterns of inequality in the context of globalised production through global value chains. Policies for dealing with inequality usually deal with taxation and other forms of ex post action on inequality. The paper asks for a consideration of the modification of the manner in which the knowledge economy functions in dealing with inequality.

Author: Ihsaan Bassier

SCIS Working Paper | Number 16
February 2021

How important are firms in the labour markets of developing countries? This working paper sets out to explain their importance by using matched employer-employee data from South Africa, and concludes that firms explain a larger share of wages compared to other richer countries.  The author shows that this can be explained by the country's high degree of underemployment.

Estimating separations elasticities by instrumenting wages of matched workers with firm wages, among other methods, the paper finds a low separations elasticity which generates a high degree of monopsony. The correspondingly high estimated rent-sharing elasticity explains the important role of firm wage policies, even in an economy with a large labour surplus.

The author notes that this paper is a work in progress.

Author: Michael Sachs

SCIS Working Paper | Number 15
March 2021

How did South Africa arrive at the fiscal crisis it currently faces? In search of answers, this paper reviews fiscal data and policy development over the last two decades. The structure of public spending and the dynamics of debt accumulation are looked at in some detail, but less attention is given to taxation.

The paper considers monetary policy only to the extent that it might (or might not) ease fiscal constraints. Macroeconomic trends are looked at insofar as they frame fiscal choices, but the broader context of the South Africa’s crisis – rising unemployment and poverty, extreme and entrenched inequalities, economic stagnation rooted in deindustrialisation and financialisation, and the slow but inexorable disintegration of the Congress movement – is left in the background.

The author notes that while South Africa’s crisis is multidimensional, and a single lens such as fiscal policy would inevitably be limited. However, the belief is it can help illuminate a wider terrain of historical change.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 14 | A Wealth Tax for South Africa | January 2021

Authors: Aroop Chatterjee, Léo Czajka and Amory Gethin

This working paper provides the details behind the op-ed that proposes a wealth tax to assist with fiscal sustainability, as well as reduce extreme wealth inequality. It considers the feasibility of implementing a progressive wealth tax to collect additional government revenue and reduce inequality in South Africa in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Drawing on their companion paper on wealth inequality in South Africa, the authors estimate that under conservative assumptions, a progressive wealth tax on the richest 1% could raise between 1.5% and 3.5% of GDP. 

Based on this paper, there is also a wealth tax simulator available here. This tool allows the user to change tax rates, thresholds, and parameters (such as evasion rates and depreciation of wealth) to see how much revenue it generates, how much tax an individual would have to pay, and how it compares to other government expenditures and revenues.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 4  | Estimates of Employment in South Africa Under the Five-Level Lockdown Framework SCIS Working 

Authors: David Francis, Kamal Ramburuth-Hurt and Imraan Valodia | May 2020

During the COVID-19 pandemic and response, an important question, from both a health and economic policy perspective, is how many workers are able to return to work as the lockdown is eased and tightened in response to the spread of the virus. Using a static analysis derived from industry subsectors, we estimate employment allowed under each level of the five-level lockdown framework. We estimate that under level five of the lockdown framework, 40% of total employment is permitted, or 6.6 million workers. This rises to 55% (9.2 million) under level four; 71% (11.8 million) under level three; 94% (15.6 million) under level two and 100% under level one. This is a static analysis and assumes that no jobs are lost as a result of a lockdown. As such, its principle use is as a distributional analysis of the share of workers permitted to work under each level of the lockdown. 

SCIS Working Paper | Number 3 | Estimating the Distribution of Household Wealth in South Africa | April 2020

Author: Aroop Chatterjee, Léo Czajka and Amory Gethin

This working paper is the result of a collaboration between the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies and the World Inequality Lab. It provides estimates on the distribution of personal wealth in South Africa by combining tax microdata covering the universe of income tax returns, household surveys and macroeconomic balance sheets statistics. 

SCIS Working Paper | Number 2 | Beyond a Treasury View of the World: Reflections from Theory and History on Heterodox Economic Policy Options for South Africa

Author: Professor Vishnu Padayachee | May 2018

Author: Sampie Terreblanche

SCIS Working Paper | No 1
January 2018

The Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS) at the University of the Witwatersrand takes great pleasure in presenting this, our first Working Paper, by economic historian Sampie Terreblanche. It was exactly twenty years ago that Professor Terreblanche presented his testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Two decades later, it remains extremely relevant. This Working Paper presents some contemporary reflections on inequality, penned by Professor Terreblanche. These are followed by a reproduction, in full, of his testimony to the TRC in November 1997, which called for the levying of a wealth tax on all affluent South Africans.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 48 | Mapping the Wealth Elites of India 

Authors: Surinder S. Jodhka and Vamsi Vakulabharanam | June 2023

The paper explores the processes that produce, expand/dissolve and reproduce the extreme concentration of wealth in the context of the institutional and social structures in India. The study engages with the historical and empirical processes of big wealth in India.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 49 | Wealth and its accumulation in Bombay/Mumbai

Authors: Sripad Motiram and Kiran Limaye | June 2023

This paper analyses wealth in Bombay/Mumbai by considering three historical phases: pre-colonial and colonial (sixteenth century-1947), independence to pre-liberalisation (1947-91) and post-liberalisation (1991-present). 

SCIS Working Paper | Number 50 | Wealth elites in Delhi-NCR

Authors: Anjana Thampi and Ishan Anand | June 2023

In this paper, we study the evolution of wealth in this region using secondary data, primary data collection, and detailed interviews. Our interviews of key informants and case studies of wealthy elites revealed five key themes: real estate, land, and farmhouses; caste and community networks; start-ups; politics and wealth creation; and investment in educational institutions.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 51 | Wealth elites of Kolkata

Authors: Saswata Guha Thakurata, Manas Ranjan Bhowmik and Riona Basu | June 2023

In this paper, focusing on the city of Kolkata, we present a narrative concerning, (a) The caste-class-ethnicity intersectionality with respect to wealth ownership; (b) The sectoral dimension of wealth creation; and (c) the spatial implications of the process of wealth accumulation.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 52 | Wealth Elites and their Accumulation Dynamics: Hyderabad City Region

Authors: Purendra Prasad and Raviteja Rambarki | June 2023

Taking into consideration the agrarian background of elites and subsequent emergence of professional classes on one hand, and diverse trajectories of business elites on the other, this paper tries to explain the current wealth-accumulation dynamics in Hyderabad City region through a political economy perspective.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 53 | Brazil Colonial Legacy and Growth Patterns 

Authors: Lena Lavinas, et al.  | June 2023

This paper provides a very concise view of the trajectory of Brazil since it became a republic. It goes through the 20th century and into the 21st century to systematize how the different phases of economic development reproduced and reformatted the inequalities inherited from the country's colonial-slave period.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 54 | The Brazilian Tax System: Regressive and Biased

Authors: Lucas Bressan, Ana Carolina Cordilha, João Paulo Constantino and Pedro Rubin | June 2023

The goal of this article is to unpack the regressive and biased nature of the Brazilian tax system. It combines data from national and international institutions for the past two decades to provide a comprehensive understanding of the tax system's role in shaping income and wealth gaps.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 55 | Mapping Recent Trends in the distribution of wealth in Brazil 

Authors: Lena Lavinas, Ana Carolina Cordilha, Lucas Bressan and Pedro Rubin | June 2023

The paper describes the recent evolution of financial and non-financial personal wealth in Brazil, with an aim to indicate how the different forms of wealth - in particular the strong expansion of fictitious capital - reshape inequalities in Brazil.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 56 | Capital and Politics: Links and Distance During Bolsonaro Government

Authors: Francisco Bedê, José Maurício Domingues, Mônica Herz, Guilherme Leite Gonçalves, and Maria Elena Rodríguez | June 2023

The article analyses the relation between the state and the political system, on the one side, and capital and capitalists, on the other, in Brazil, especially under the Bolsonaro government.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 57 | Urban property, expropriation and wealth concentration in Brazil

Authors: Mariana Fix, João Paulo Constantino and André Doca Prado | June 2023

This paper aims to identify and characterise changes and continuities in the real estate wealth, with a focus on the residential segment.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 47

Renewable energy, the just transition and inequality: insights from South Africa's renewables procurement

Authors: Aalia Cassim, Julia Taylor, Roderick Crompton, and Imraan Valodia

May 2023

This paper discusses the de-risking approach and the investment-centred approach to an energy transition, and using the case study of South Africa, argues for the necessity of an investment-centred approach to achieve a transition which supports local development and energy security. In analysing the example of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REI4P), the authors highlight important learnings for the energy transition, which provide a useful window into the wider carbon transition.

SCIS Working Paper | Number 68

Towards a gender just transition: Principles and perspectives from the global South

Authors: Somali Cerise, Sarah Cook, Katrina Lehmann-Grube, Julia Taylor, and Imraan Valodia

June 2024

This paper asks what a gender just transition could and should look like, particularly in the global South. Based on an extensive review of conceptual and empirical literatures from a range of disciplinary perspectives, we examine how different approaches address – or ignore – gender dimensions of (in)justice in thinking about low-carbon transitions. We go on to offer a more expansive view of justice informed by perspectives drawn from feminist theory, and combine this with the pillars of distributive, procedural, recognitive and restorative justice.