The Macroeconomic Policy Analysis (MPA) programme was developed by Prof Nicholas M Odhiambo in 2011, and later established in 2012/13 as one of the UNISA research chairs. The programme is an offshoot of one of the College of Economic and Management Sciences (CEMS) flagship programmes entitled “Growth, Poverty and Macroeconomic Policy Analysis “, which was also developed by Prof NM Odhiambo in 2009/10. The establishment of the MPA research programme was motivated by the lack of adequate empirical research on African countries that could inform policy makers on the desirability and the viability of their macroeconomic policies, on a regular basis. While it is true that poverty and sluggish economic development in some African countries have been attributed to civil wars, political instabilities and rapid population growth, inappropriate and misaligned macroeconomic policies in some of these countries, especially during the post-independence era, seem to have played a major role. In certain instances, conflicting or incoherent macroeconomic policies have been inadvertently implemented in some African countries, thereby leading to economic stagnation at best – and to economic collapse at worst.
The aim of the MPA research programme is to conduct cutting-edge macro-economic policy research necessary to provide timely scientific policy advice to African countries, in general, and to sub-Saharan African countries, in particular. The programme aims to achieve this broad objective by, inter alia, empirically examining the efficacy of the various macro-economic policies that African countries have implemented over the years. These include, but are not limited to, policies on economic growth, unemployment and poverty, which are currently the main challenges facing many African countries. To put it slightly differently, the thematic focus areas of the programme involve all socio-economic policies that have a direct or an indirect bearing on economic growth, employment and poverty reduction in African countries. The programme is also aimed at exploring the transmission mechanism, the trade-offs and the thresholds underpinning the aforementioned macro-economic variables. The programme uses novel applied econometric models and techniques as its main tools of analysis. The programme’s research has a strong bias towards sub-Saharan Africa, which is not only the poorest region in the world, but also the only region in the world where the overall number of extremely poor people is increasing rather than decreasing.
Our mission is to conduct research that is not only scientifically rigorous, but also policy-relevant to African countries and other developing countries.
Our goal is to increase the visibility of economics research from UNISA, South Africa and Africa on the global research map.
The programme also has its signature working paper series entitled “UNISA Economic Research Working Paper Series” (https://ideas.repec.org/s/uza/wpaper.html), which is currently used to disseminate some of its research findings to the international community. This working paper series (which was established in 2015) is currently indexed by RePEc/IDEAS (hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USA); and it is also available on Google Scholar. The MPA programme currently has about 20 doctoral students.
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Prof NM Odhiambo MPA Head & Lead Researcher |
012 433 4673 |
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Ms M Mokgele MPA Administrative Assistant |
012 433 4624 |
B Dlamini, M Hungwe, MO Akinsola, AU Aimola, FPK Sedegah, MG Tefera, DWH Kimolo, G Maluleke, RI Thamae, J Mawejje, Kolawole Olawole, Isaac Osei Mensah, Nombulelo Braiton, Moses Oyeyemi Agbede, Mark Badu-Aboagye.
Dr S Nyasha, Dr BN Iyke, Dr TG Chirwa, Dr B Muyambiri, Dr ET Nyorekwa, Dr G Makuyana, Prof MR Malefane, Dr Sin-Yu Ho, Dr M Musakwa (nee Magombeyi), Dr NP Vacu, Dr E Mahembe, Dr T Saungweme.
Mr P Madito, Ms G Maluleke, Mr E Mahembe.
Last modified: Mon Aug 07 18:02:03 SAST 2023