Policy uncertainty, the economy and business

South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Policy uncertainty, the economy and business
 
Creator Parsons, Raymond Krugell, Waldo
 
Subject Economics, Macroeconomics policy, uncertainty; business confidence; investment; South Africa
Description Elevated policy uncertainty acts as a tax on investment. In 1921, Frank Knight made a basic conceptual distinction between risk and uncertainty. In a market context, risks can be hedged through the use of different instruments, yet in the policy context, uncertainty makes waiting and seeing an option with value. However, this can come at a high economic cost. The academic analysis of policy uncertainty is today an active field of research globally. Some papers have been published in this regard, each using different approaches to measure macroeconomic and policy uncertainty. In 2015, the North-West University Business School (in conjunction with the School of Economics) pioneered the creation and publication of a Policy Uncertainty Index (PUI) for South Africa, which has since then captured the impact of key events – from ‘Nenegate’ to ‘Ramaphoria’. This paper presents an analysis of policy uncertainty in South Africa and how the PUI has contributed to an understanding of the economic environment in which business operates, with a specific focus on investment. The paper’s contribution lies in the unique context that it creates – where policymaking is more performative than evidence-based and there is a perennial tug of war between the state and market forces, against the backdrop of South Africa’s mixed economy.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor
Date 2022-09-09
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Index building
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajems.v25i1.4422
 
Source South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences; Vol 25, No 1 (2022); 9 pages 2222-3436 1015-8812
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/4422/2576 https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/4422/2577 https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/4422/2578 https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/4422/2579
 
Coverage South Africa 2015-2021 E02, E61, E71
Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Raymond Parsons, Waldo Krugell https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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