Past Events & Seminars

2024

WHAM: From Dependency to Decoloniality? When: Thursday, 18 April 2024 - Thursday, 18 April 2024 Where: Online Event https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88141499359?pwd=AeKYGDQ4VatoBGKvbgIIw3c2kouuOe.1 Start time: 17:00 Enquiries: nobantu.mbeki@wits.ac.za You are invited to a WHAM seminar presentation by Michael Smith This presentation is centred around a paper recently published in the journal Social Dynamics. The title is: “From Dependency to Decoloniality? The enduring relevance of materialist political economy and the problems of a ‘decolonial’ alternative.” The paper was co-authored by Michael N. Smith and Dr. Claire Lester from the Sociology Department at the University of Stellenbosch.   Abstract:  Traditions within development thought sceptical of market-led development and which emphasise the unevenness and instabilities of global capitalism are experiencing some renewed interest. One such tradition is dependency studies: a school of thought once prominent in the field of development. We critically review the dependency tradition alongside a more recent branch of critical inquiry into development, namely decoloniality. One of our core contributions is to clarify what makes the decolonial tradition substantially distinct from dependency and other traditions in development thought. We locate decoloniality in the context of the “cultural turn” that swept through social theory from the 1970s. Our paper problematises decoloniality’s critique of Modernity as inherently colonial and oppressive and finds that its core features are idealism and the strong risk of cultural relativism. We assert that the substantive commitments of the dependency tradition are its strength and reject the equivalence drawn by decolonial theorists between “Eurocentrism” and belief in Enlightenment values and methodologies. Drawing on the work of Samir Amin, we emphasise the need for development theory to retain an analytic focus on a materialist analysis of global capitalism; we echo Amin’s critique of culturalism and endorse his defence of universalism.

Inauguration of Prof. Moinak Maiti When: Monday, 15 April 2024 - Monday, 15 April 2024 Where: Braamfontein Campus West The Rembrandt Gallery Start time: 17:00 Enquiries: Mamosa Moletsane RSVP: Mamosa Moletsane RSVP by 5 April 2024. You are invited to the inauguration of the FirstRand Foundation Chair in Financial Data Science

SEF Brown Bag: Exploring inequality, redistribution and co-operation in the lab When: Thursday, 11 April 2024 - Thursday, 11 April 2024 Where: Online Event Start time: 13:00 Enquiries: Mamosa Moletsane SEF Brown Bag Seminars invites you to a presentation by Prof. Justine Burns on "Exploring inequality, redistribution and co-operation in the lab".

Redefining the degree of industry greenness using input–output tables When: Monday, 08 April 2024 - Monday, 08 April 2024 Where: Online Event Start time: 13:00 Enquiries: Malosa Moletsane SEF Fintech HUB invites you to a seminar by Prof. Henry Penikas on Redefining the degree of industry greenness using input–output tables. Climate risk is a novel exposure that may rock the financial stability world-wide. For this reason, the world banking regulation standards-setter – the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) – suggested considering pricing in the climate risk and adopting its relevant regulation. It listed input–output tables as one of the key tools to measure the climate riskiness of a borrower. However, most of the prior research considered carbon dioxide emissions when applying input–output tables. Same time there is a significant volume of research focusing on climate (or environmental) risk ratings. Nevertheless, both approaches might present only part of the larger climate-related financial risk implications. That is why, our research purpose is to develop full climate risk estimate by leveraging on the input–output tables and climate risk ratings. By doing so, we intend to demonstrate when the existing approaches yield sufficient information to make financial risk-related decision and when those should be improved by considering full climate risk justified in the current paper. The novelty of this work is the amalgamation of a known data source on environmental (climate) risk scores from Sustainalytics.com with the world input–output database (WIOD) for 2000–2014. The major finding of ours is that the greenness of industries is materially perturbed when considering WIOD-based full climate risk estimates as follows from an equivalent to the Leontief full production costs. We specifically find that aluminium as a commodity occurs much ’browner’ from full climate risk perspective, than it seems from the marginal climate risk one. Hence, the steps taken by Australia to reduce aluminium production are necessary, but not sufficient. For the global welfare China has adopt a negative emission target (i.e., reduce more carbon dioxide, than is produced) to attain the objective of noticeable improvement in the global carbon footprint, particularly the one related to aluminium production. Our results are solicited by the Central Banks to accurately design the specialized lending facilities to truly green industries and projects. Henry Penikas (Doctor of economic sciences) is a project leader at the Bank of Russia (BoR) Research and Forecasting Department. Before BoR Banking Regulation Department, he worked for the Russia’s largest banks (Alfa-Bank and Sberbank). He participated in the working groups of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). Henry received his Master’s degree from the University of Paris-I, Paris School of Economics (Paris, France) and from the Higher School of Economics, HSE (Moscow, Russia). He was an invited lecturer to the University of Pavia (Italy). Now he also teaches at the joint department of the Bank of Russia within HSE.

Spillover Between Cryptocurrencies and Financial Markets in a Global Framework When: Tuesday, 02 April 2024 - Tuesday, 02 April 2024 Where: Online Event Start time: 13:00 Enquiries: mamosa.moletsane@wits.ac.za You are invited to a presentation by Prof. Darko B. Vukovic on the "Spillover Between Cryptocurrencies and Financial Markets in a Global Framework". This study addresses the notable gap in literature by employing the Global Vector Autoregression (GVAR) model to explore the interconnections among various financial markets, with a particular focus on the integration of cryptocurrency markets. Utilizing a systematic two-stage modelling process, the study first estimates individual country models before aggregating these into a comprehensive global model that elucidates the propagation and dynamics of financial shocks. This approach is enhanced through the application of the Bayesian variant of GVAR, aimed at improving inference quality and mitigating overfitting issues. The research extends across several key areas: it introduces a multi-country framework to analyze the interconnections between cryptocurrency and traditional financial markets, covers a significant period (2015-2022) that includes critical phases of cryptocurrency market evolution, and incorporates a wide range of cryptocurrencies and financial markets from diverse regions. By examining the impact of cryptocurrency volatility on global financial markets, the study offers a more nuanced understanding of global spillovers and the mechanisms through which these effects propagate. Findings reveal that spillovers from the cryptocurrency market are global in nature, affecting stock markets and exchange rates worldwide, and highlight the importance of incorporating cryptocurrencies into financial risk evaluations. This comprehensive analysis contributes novel insights into the global financial system’s complexity, demonstrating the widespread impact of cryptocurrency market fluctuations on traditional financial assets. Prof. Darko B. Vukovic            Chief Expert (Scientific director) in the Centre for Market efficiency and applied finance, GSOM  Associate Professor, Department of Finance and Accounting, GSOM, SPB, Russia           Prof. Vukovic has over 15 years of experience teaching ?nance courses at the postgraduate, graduate (master in corporate ?nance, CFA, ACCA, AMBA, AACSB accreditations), and undergraduate level at different global Universities. He also serves as the Head of the International Laboratory for Finance and Financial Markets at Faculty of Economics, People’s Friendship University of Russia, in Moscow, Russia. His research interest includes digital ?nance, ?nancial markets, ?nancial forecasting, machine learning in ?nance, ?nancial risk management and investment ?nance.                    His research has been awarded multiple times, like the Emerald Literati Award 2021 for “Outstanding Paper”, UK and from publisher Wiley, Top Cited Article in 2020-2021 (the journal Internet technology letters). He has published more than 70 papers indexed in leading index databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and ABS (CABS). During his career, he has reviewed numerous journals of leading publishing houses (Tayler & Francis, Elsevier, Springer, Chapman & Hall/CRC Press, Emerald, Sage, etc.) and has been several times a guest editor in international journals. Currently he is a member of The American Southern Finance Association (Jacksonville, US) and Southwestern Finance Association (Huston, US). He serves as a visiting professor at La Salle University, Bogota, Columbia; Fudan school of economics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Three studies on student transitions into and through university When: Thursday, 28 March 2024 - Thursday, 28 March 2024 Where: Online Event Start time: 17:00 Enquiries: nobantu.mbeki@wits.ac.za You are invited to a presentation by Dr. Andrew Mearman on "Three studies on student transitions into and through university". In this seminar I will present preliminary findings from three studies of student transitions into and through university. The first, which has been completed, investigated expectations of mainly new undergraduate students at a UK university via semi-structured interviews. It found various sources of expectations, which are often unreliable, a generalised challenge of independence, and the effect of socio-cultural capital in affecting both. The second study is ongoing, and evaluates a pilot support scheme in which postgraduate researchers acted as ‘welcome tutors’ to new postgraduate taught students, using interviews and focus groups. The data suggest students found the scheme beneficial in providing general information via experienced peers, which helped students settle in; but it also highlighted some concerns about the labelling of the scheme, language, and structures of welcome. The third, also ongoing, study collects quantitative data embedded in virtual learning environments for years 1 and 2 of a set of business school students. It suggests that whilst the effects of not having done A level economics and/or mathematics wears off in terms of self-reported self-efficacy, whereas being female does not. We also explore the effects on/of self-efficacy of in-module activity and feedback, and extra-curricular activity. The seminar aims to explore these studies individually, as well as exploring connections between them.

Brazil and South Africa: comparative remarks When: Tuesday, 19 March 2024 - Tuesday, 19 March 2024 Where: Braamfontein Campus West New Commerce Building (NCB), Room 221 Start time: 16:00 Enquiries: Mamosa Moletsane Political Economy and Macroeconomic Analysis reading group invites you to a presentation by Prof. Fabio Luis on Brazil and South Africa: comparative remarks. We are delighted to welcome Fabio Luis, who will be giving a talk on the following topic: Brazil and South Africa: comparative remarks. Fabio Luis Barbosa dos Santos is professor of Latin American Studies at the Unifesp and Prolam-USP in São Paulo. A SWOP associate, he is the author of Power and Impotency. A history of South America under progressivism (Haymarket: 2021).

Socially Responsible Investments When: Tuesday, 19 March 2024 - Tuesday, 19 March 2024 Where: Online Event Braamfontein Campus West TBA Start time: 1:00 Enquiries: Mamosa Moletsane Doing Good while Doing Well in Developed versus Emerging Markets? You are invited to a Seminar Presentation by Prof. Michael Frömmel, Full Professor, Department of Financial Economics, Ghent University, Belgium, hosted by the Wits University Fintech Hub and School of Economics and Finance (SEF). We investigate the performance of Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) in both developed and emerging countries. We do so by examining the performance of self-constructed equity portfolios based on SRI's mutual funds' current and historical holdings. Based on the current holdings, the SRI equity portfolios from emerging and developed countries significantly outperform their benchmarks, except for the Japanese stock portfolio. We mitigate the current holdings approach's potential look-ahead and survivorship bias by employing the historical holdings approach. The results change dramatically in developed markets: the outperformance of SRI is not significant in the U.S. – the dominant developed markets in the sample – and Japan. In emerging markets, the SRI's outperformance remains significant. It outperforms in both BRICS and Non-BRICS, and in terms of income, it consistently outperforms in the markets of middle-income countries. Speaker's Profile Prof. Frömmel’s research is on foreign exchange markets with a focus on their microstructure, hedge funds and commodity trading advisors, and financial markets in emerging economies. He has also been invited as a visiting researcher at the central banks of Bulgaria, Hungary, and Austria, as a guest lecturer at Sichuan University’s University Immersion Program and Chongqing Southwestern University’s Global Immersion Program and as a guest professor at the Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Furthermore, Prof. Frömmel is a very active researcher. His publication record includes five books in German, English and Russian and more than 50 articles in journals and contributions to books. He has published in international top journals in economics and finance including the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Markets, Energy Economics, the International Review of Financial Analysis, Finance Research Letters and Emerging Markets Reviews.

Evaluating the Impacts of Rural Transport Infrastructure Development on Educational Outcomes When: Thursday, 14 March 2024 - Thursday, 14 March 2024 Where: Online Event Braamfontein Campus West Start time: 13:00 Enquiries: Mamosa Moletsane Ngitholiseni Mkhize presents this week on the SEF Brown Bag seminars.

Is the Funding Squeeze Ending? When: Wednesday, 13 March 2024 - Wednesday, 13 March 2024 Where: Online Event Braamfontein Campus West Wits University School of Economics and Finance Seminar Suite, 1st floor New Commerce Building (NCB) Start time: 11:00 Enquiries: mamosa.moletsane@wits.ac.za You are invited to a Seminar Presentation by Mr. Abebe Selassie, Director of the African Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), hosted by the Wits Mr Abebe Selassie is the Director of the African Department of the IMF, where he oversees the IMF’s operations and engagement with 45 countries across sub-Saharan Africa.  Under his leadership the IMF has disbursed some $51 billion to support the post pandemic recovery and foster greener more inclusive growth.  Working tirelessly alongside the region’s leaders Mr. Selassie strives to strengthen the region’s financial architecture and support Africa reaching its true potential. Before joining the IMF in 1994, he worked for the Government of Ethiopia as Principal Economist in the Office of the President and at the Economist Intelligence Unit in London.

Disentangling frictions across the world: markups versus trade costs When: Thursday, 07 March 2024 - Thursday, 07 March 2024 Where: Braamfontein Campus West New Commerce Building (NCB) 221 (Smart Room) Start time: 13:00 Enquiries: Mamosa Moletsane Disentangling frictions across the world: markups versus trade costs Presented by Benedikt Heid (Universitat Jaume), and Frank Stähler (University of Tübingen) We develop a structural framework that allows us to quantify the evolution of aggregate bilateral trade costs and markups over time. With minimal assumptions, we can disentangle aggregate markup and trade cost changes from observed changes in trade flows. We apply our method to trade data between 1990 and 2015 for the world's 100 largest economies. We find that across all country pairs, on average, bilateral aggregate markups have increased by 2.7% per year. Since bilateral aggregate trade costs have fallen, we find a strong negative correlation between observed trade cost and markup changes.

Economics as a Social Science When: Thursday, 29 February 2024 - Thursday, 29 February 2024 Where: Braamfontein Campus East New Commerce Building (NCB) 221 (Smart Room) Start time: 13:00 Enquiries: mamosa.moletsane@wits.ac.za  Brown Bag presented by Professor Rick Szostak. Rick Szostak is a Professor in the Economics Department, Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta.

2023

Masters Open Day When: Thursday, 21 September 2023 - Thursday, 21 September 2023 Where: Braamfontein Campus West SEF Seminar Suite, New Commerce Building Start time: 12:30 Enquiries: kamo.nhlapo@wits.ac.za  RSVP: kamo.nhlapo@wits.ac.za  The School of Economics and Finance is hosting a Masters Open Day. Masters Open Day on 21 September 2023, 12:30 - 13:15. Masters in Economics & Economic Science Masters in Applied Development Economics Masters in Environmental and Energy Economics Masters in Inequality Studies

Honours Open Day When: Tuesday, 19 September 2023 - Tuesday, 19 September 2023 Where: Braamfontein Campus West SEF Seminar Suite, New Commerce Building Start time: 12:30 Enquiries: kamo.nhlapo@wits.ac.za RSVP: kamo.nhlapo@wits.ac.za The School of Economics and Finance is Hosting an Honours Open Day. Honours Open day on 19 September 2023, 12:30 - 13:15. Honours in Economics & Economic Science Honours in Applied Development Economics

Launch of the Wits PPS Chair in Health Economics When: Wednesday, 14 June 2023 - Wednesday, 14 June 2023 Where:   Start time: 17:30 Enquiries: mamosa.moletsane@wits.ac.za  RSVP: https://youtu.be/yPI9DU7SXjw Please join us online for the launch of the PPS Chair in Health Economics. We will be having a panel discussion titled "The role of Health Economics in achieving Universal Health Coverage in South Africa". Moderator: Ina Skosana is a health journalist and editor. She currently works as the health and medicine editor at The Conversation Africa where she spends her days collaborating with the continent’s leading scientists to translate their research into articles everyone can understand. Ina was previously a health researcher at Africa Check - the continent’s first independent non-profit fact-checking organisation. Prior to that she was a journalist at the Mail & Guardian’s Centre for Health Journalism which is now known as Bhekisisa. Ina has won several national awards for her reporting and has a strong passion for social justice and women’s rights. Panellists: Prof Frikkie Booysen is the PPS Chair in Health Economics in the School of Economics and Finance at the University of the Witwatersrand. His research focuses mainly on issues of health and development, access and inequalities in health, and social and economic aspects of mental health. He is a founding member of the Lelapa consortium for research on family health and development, an international collaboration with University College London. He is an NRF-rated researcher, a Fulbright and EUROSA scholar, and a recipient of the Founder’s Medal of the Economic Society of South Africa. Matshidiso Lencoasa is a Budget Researcher at SECTION27, where she advocates for budget interventions that protect the Constitutional right to health care, particularly in a climate change context and through a gendered lens. She currently serves on the steering committees of the Budget Justice Coalition that advances people's participation and understanding budget processes and Imali Yethu’s civil society collaboration with National Treasury aimed at making budget information more accessible. She forms part of the Fiscal Openness Accelerator's advisory group which works to deepen public participation in the budget process. She is a 2023 Mandela-Washington Fellow. Dr Sophie Pascoe is an Epidemiologist and Principal Researcher at the Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office (HE2RO) with a joint appointment in the Faculty of Health Sciences University of Witwatersrand. She has extensive experience in designing and implementing RCTs and observational studies, and evaluating interventions to improve HIV prevention and treatment outcomes. She is Co-Director of the Indlela Behavioural Economics unit, a first of its kind nudge unit in South Africa focussing on health and HIV, and is a deputy editor for the Journal of the International AIDS Society.

Careers through Technical Analysis When: Saturday, 25 March 2023 - Saturday, 25 March 2023 Where: Online Event Braamfontein Campus West Start time: 13:00 Enquiries: Mamosa Moletsane You are invited to join "Careers through Technical Analysis," presented by Joel Pannikot, the head of the Asia Pacific region for the CMT Association. In this session, we'll dive into the dynamic world of financial services, exploring key roles and career paths, and understanding the crucial role of technical analysis in shaping successful financial strategies. This session is designed to enlighten university students about the practical applications of technical analysis across various sectors such as investment management, broking, banking, fintech, and more. They will also learn about CMT Association and the impact it has had on the industry over the past 50 years. Prepare to gain valuable insights on how technical analysis informs decision-making in financial markets, setting the foundation for a thriving career in this exciting field. Joel Pannikot has spent over two decades in the fin-tech and ed-tech industries and has led three startups. He currently runs CMT Association, Inc's operations in the Eastern Hemisphere. His career highlights include CEO roles at Zaya Learning Labs, focusing on affordable digital learning access, and transforming the Teach-A-Class Foundation into India's pioneering crowdfunding platform for teachers. Prior to this, Joel managed Bloomberg L.P.'s Asia-Pacific education strategy. He grew Bloomberg's presence from 2 terminals in Indian Universities to 300 and scaled this strategy worldwide. Known for his entrepreneurial spirit and expertise spanning commercial education, corporate training, and K-12 sectors, Joel is dedicated to uncovering learning synergies between industry, academia, and non-profit sectors. He works to travel, and travels to eat.

2022

Manning up to Healthcare Avoidance When: Tuesday, 29 November 2022 - Tuesday, 29 November 2022 Where: Hybrid Event Braamfontein Campus West CLM PG Centre (in front of Wits School of Law), Braamfontein Campus West Start time: 18:00 Enquiries: mamosa.moletsane@wits.ac.za  RSVP: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebnLTq-_742tsF1QuMEsTiht-Lex3FXEVGRps8SHNX36g9OQ/viewform Men often fail to adequately manage their own health and sometimes present at healthcare facilities late or not all, which curtails their health and well-being. In this panel discussion, we reflect on the drivers of men’s healthcare avoidance and on solutions for addressing the issue efficiently and sustainably.