Research Focus Areas

In terms of focus areas, the Department’s research primarily focuses on macroeconomics, monetary economics, economic growth and development, financial markets, international economics, health economics, public economics, energy economics, and the development of computable general equilibrium models. Much of the research relating to monetary and fiscal policy is run through the South African Reserve Bank Chair in Economics.

Although there is a decided policy focus to the research, e.g., examining the effects of monetary policy on economic performance or the effects of other policies on economic behaviours, the Department also contains expertise in theoretical modelling related to the wider economy, decision theory and political economy. Furthermore, researchers are involved in the development of econometric methods, applied to especially the African context, as well as computable general equilibrium models.