My articles share my insights. Sometimes it is about policy and at other times about entrepreneurship.
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen
Interview on Unemployment Data – Quarter 2 / 2021
The recent labour force data paints a worrying picture. The scale of the problem has grown, but this problem has been around for decades. The coverage of the data was interesting, with even mainstream press covering the depth of the…
Thoughts on predistribution and B-BBEE: lessons from trade union investment companies and ESOPs in South Africa
A bit of nervous in introducing the concept of predistribution at a webinar hosted by the South Centre for Inequality Studies. Below are the slides from the presentation which is loosely based on a chapter I wrote on Trade Union…
Talking MTBPS 2020
I enjoyed chatting about the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement 2020 with Nwabisa Nontenja from YFM. I gave my insights on the history of the South African budget process and proposes an alternative approach that prioritises and protects government spending on…
Can you hear the pandemic in MTBPS 2020?
‘We listen to everyone; only hear a few’ Minister Mboweni deviated from his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS 2020) speech to voice these words. Andile and Tumi wondered if they were even heard. Andile and Tumi were once upwardly …
Using open contracting to connect the dots
We are a nation of dot connectors, yet some dot connections are more equal than others. The Public Procurement Bill (PDF) released by the National Treasury should connect the dots from the State Capture Commission and use this experience to propel a…
Elections 2019- Why small business policies should be less certain
The 2019 election manifestos reveal ‘what is possible’ for small business and entrepreneurship policy in South Africa. The proposals are however inadequate to create a successful small business sector. In fact, this consensus makes the ‘proliferation of small business’ –…
Counting structural unemployment.
Unemployment is either “frictional” or “structural”. In textbooks the definitions are precise, but for this article: Frictional means one is likely to get a job fairly quickly through job searching Structural means that one is unlikely to get a job even if…
A Budget Imaginary to tackle Very Real Inequality
Can public expenditure be egalitarian? This question is all but absent in discussions on Budget 2019 . It is the so-called efficiency question that dominates. The efficiency question seeks legitimate answers in the ratios of debt, expenditure and revenue to…
Open to talents not capture
Are the talented ones appointed? An important question, because corruption thrives on rigging selection and appointment processes. In keeping with the French saying, carrière est ouverte aux talents (positions are open to those with talents), the answer to the question requires accepting…