Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU)

Last few days left to submit to the 2026 Jobs & Development Conference, in Hong Kong in October, co-hosted by @WorldBank @UNUWIDER @ilo @hkust @DPRU_UCT @ibs_warsaw. 📝 Deadline: Tues 31 March 🔗 go.unu.edu/LXwSS

@News24 coverage on new research by DPRU Senior Research Officer Dr. Leigh Neethling, DPRU Director Prof. @HaroonBhorat, and UCT Associate Prof. Ayesha Sayed on firm delistings from South Africa’s🇿🇦 Johannesburg Stock Exchage (JSE). Full paper here: lnkd.in/dgHDVcSd

Can cash transfers improve labour market outcomes in settings characterized by severe job scarcity & constraints to self-employment? Happy to share a new @UNUWIDER working paper, with @HaroonBhorat & Ben Stanwix on South Africa’s🇿🇦 SRD grant. 🔗: doi.org/10.35188/UNU-W…

How are difficult policy trade-offs navigated in practice across fiscal pressures, labour markets, and the energy transition? Join us at the #SATIED Conference to engage with the conversations shaping reform in South Africa. Register here: go.unu.edu/OUx7X

Is job creation driven by new firms or growth within incumbents? In a new paper on Rwanda’s formal economy supported by @The_IGC, we estimate a relatively high 30% job reallocation rate, with the vast majority of flows occurring within incumbents. tinyurl.com/igr-rwanda-flo…

Dr Tim Köhler, from the Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU) in the School of Economics, is among 19 early-career researchers worldwide to receive funding from Schmidt Sciences’ AI at Work programme. bit.ly/4rffv7O

How do we create better jobs in a rapidly changing world? Submit your research on labor markets, AI, energy transition, skills, demographics & fiscal policy to the Jobs and Development Conference. 📅 Submissions by 20 March 🔗go.unu.edu/LXwSS @worldbank @ilo @hkustiems

“This award places UCT and South Africa more broadly at the forefront of an emerging global conversation about AI and work,” said Köhler. timeslive.co.za/news/south-afr…

AI is transforming how we work—but we don't yet know how, or where its effects will be felt most acutely. Today we announced over $3 million to support 19 field studies across eight countries to find out. Learn more about the research: schmidtsciences.org/schmidt-scienc…

Thanks to funding from @schmidtsciences, this year we’ll be rolling out an RCT to understand how gen AI affects the labour market prospects of unemployed youth in SA🇿🇦. Very grateful for their support. Thanks also to @kunalsen5 @UNUWIDER @JPAL_Africa for valuable feedback!

Jobs and Development Conference 2026 - Exploring the Future of Work Submit your paper now: jobsanddevelopmentconference.org/call-for-paper… Submission Deadline: March 20, 2026 (Friday) Date: October 9-10, 2026 Location: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong China

🌍 SCIS Thursday Seminar | 20 Nov This week, we’re hosting Ben Stanwix (UCT DPRU) as he unpacks: “Low Value Cash Transfers in a High Unemployment Environment.” 🕧 12h30–14h00 (SAST) 📍 Hybrid | SCIS Lecture Theatre, Parktown 🔗 Register: wits-za.zoom.us/meeting/regist…

Call for Papers: 2026 Jobs and Development Conference Submit your paper today: jobsanddevelopmentconference.org/call-for-paper… Deadline: March 20, 2026 (Friday) @HaroonBhorat , Gary Fields, Lawrence Jeff Johnson, Piotr Lewandowski, Frederico Gil Sander, @kunalsen5 , Kar Yan Tam

We are thrilled to announce the Call for Papers for the 2026 Jobs and Development Conference! Co-organized by the World Bank, UNU-WIDER & ILO. 📍 HKUST, Hong Kong 📅 9–10 Oct 2026 📝 Deadline: 20 March 2026 🔗go.unu.edu/LXwSS

Working on labour in LMICs? Submit your paper for the 2026 Jobs & Development Conference! Oct 2026 hosted in Hong Kong at the @hkust co-organised by the @WorldBank @UNUWIDER @ilo @DPRU_UCT + others. Details below. NB: travel grants are available for eligible African researchers!

Join us at UCT for our 2-day December Workshop co-hosted with @econrsa, discussing frontier research in applied economics for developing countries! 2 keynotes: Taryn Dinkelman & Joseph Kaboski. 12 presenters from 7 international & 4 local universities, & PhD student panels.

Happy to have contributed Chapter 7 to this new piece of work by @UNUWIDER, examining the role of social protection systems in LMICS in times of crises. With @HaroonBhorat @robhill93, we illustrate the effectiveness & consequences of SA’s🇿🇦 key pandemic wage subsidy (the “TERS”).

New book alert! 📚 "Poor Protection – The Role of Taxes and Social Benefits in the Developing World During Crises" explores if tax systems in the Global South can shield people from shocks. Check it out! 🔗 go.unu.edu/nSjP4 #SOUTHMOD

📚✨ Last week, in collaboration with DPRU at UCT, we launched "Political Economy and Critical Engagement in South Africa: Essays in Honour of Vishnu Padayachee" in Cape Town. The book honours Prof Vishnu Padayachee’s remarkable contributions to political economy and critical scholarship in South Africa. 🙏 Thank you to all our supporting partners and to everyone who joined us for this special launch.