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Financial Development and Poverty Reduction in South Africa

South Africa has high levels of financial development yet experiences significant and persistently high levels of poverty. Intrinsically, this research examines the relationship between financial development and the reduction of poverty in South Africa. The research employed the Vector Error Correct...

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Main Author: Bopape, Gertrude
Other Authors: Alhassan, Abdul Latif
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Faculty of Commerce 2023
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access_status_str Open Access
author Bopape, Gertrude
author2 Alhassan, Abdul Latif
author_browse Alhassan, Abdul Latif
Bopape, Gertrude
author_facet Alhassan, Abdul Latif
Bopape, Gertrude
author_sort Bopape, Gertrude
collection Thesis
description South Africa has high levels of financial development yet experiences significant and persistently high levels of poverty. Intrinsically, this research examines the relationship between financial development and the reduction of poverty in South Africa. The research employed the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) technique based on annual data from 1980 to 2019. Using the financial depth indicator as a measure of financial development and household final consumption expenditure per capita growth, income per capita and infant mortality rate as proxies for poverty, three models were developed. The results show that in the long run, financial development – as measured by the financial depth indicator – has a positive impact on poverty reduction, yet the findings are insignificant. This is consistent across all measures of poverty. In the short run, the growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was found to be beneficial in reducing poverty, but only when household final consumption expenditure per capita growth and income per capita growth were used as proxies for poverty. GDP growth has also been found to Granger-cause poverty reduction when household final consumption expenditure per capita growth and income per capita growth were used. The study recommends designing policies that will ensure that financial sector development translates to impact at grassroots level. Furthermore, a recommendation is made for further studies in effective measurements of poverty, positing that measuring poverty on an annual basis is key in the fight to reducing the incidence of poverty in South Africa.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:05.102Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Faculty of Commerce
publisherStr Faculty of Commerce
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37972 Financial Development and Poverty Reduction in South Africa Bopape, Gertrude Alhassan, Abdul Latif Development of Finance South Africa has high levels of financial development yet experiences significant and persistently high levels of poverty. Intrinsically, this research examines the relationship between financial development and the reduction of poverty in South Africa. The research employed the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) technique based on annual data from 1980 to 2019. Using the financial depth indicator as a measure of financial development and household final consumption expenditure per capita growth, income per capita and infant mortality rate as proxies for poverty, three models were developed. The results show that in the long run, financial development – as measured by the financial depth indicator – has a positive impact on poverty reduction, yet the findings are insignificant. This is consistent across all measures of poverty. In the short run, the growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was found to be beneficial in reducing poverty, but only when household final consumption expenditure per capita growth and income per capita growth were used as proxies for poverty. GDP growth has also been found to Granger-cause poverty reduction when household final consumption expenditure per capita growth and income per capita growth were used. The study recommends designing policies that will ensure that financial sector development translates to impact at grassroots level. Furthermore, a recommendation is made for further studies in effective measurements of poverty, positing that measuring poverty on an annual basis is key in the fight to reducing the incidence of poverty in South Africa. 2023-06-27T12:50:55Z 2023-06-27T12:50:55Z 2023 2023-06-27T12:49:34Z Thesis / Dissertation http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37972 eng application/pdf Faculty of Commerce
spellingShingle Development of Finance
Bopape, Gertrude
Financial Development and Poverty Reduction in South Africa
title Financial Development and Poverty Reduction in South Africa
title_full Financial Development and Poverty Reduction in South Africa
title_fullStr Financial Development and Poverty Reduction in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Financial Development and Poverty Reduction in South Africa
title_short Financial Development and Poverty Reduction in South Africa
title_sort financial development and poverty reduction in south africa
topic Development of Finance
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37972
work_keys_str_mv AT bopapegertrude financialdevelopmentandpovertyreductioninsouthafrica