The institutional setting of subcontracted manufacturing has a profound impact on how the benefits of trade are distributed. This paper develops a model that combines insights from unequal exchange theorists and global commodity chain analysis to clarify the distributive dynamics of production networks in which subcontracting and branding are defining features. In this framework, t he ability of productivity growth to increase income from exports is constrained and depends on how the benefits of productivity improvements are captured-as lower consumer prices or higher rents for brand-name multinationals. Increasing consumption in affluent consumer markets raises export earnings. However, developing countries, acting alone, are constrained in their ability to impact the demand-side of global commodity chains. Instead, supply-side policies to support industrial upgrading represent a more viable option for raising incomes.

No abstract

This study revisits the definition of informal employment, and it investigates the puzzle of high open unemployment co-existing with relatively limited informal employment in South Africa. We estimate earnings equations using data from the September 2004 Labour Force Survey and present evidence of persistent earnings differentials not only between formal and informal employment, but also between types of informal employment. These persistent earnings differentials are suggestive of complex segmentation in the South African labour market and challenge the presentation of informal employment as an undifferentiated residual with no barriers to entry or mobility. Copyright (c) 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation (c) Economic Society of South Africa 2008.

No abstract

This is an independent report produced by a team of international and national consultants supported by the International Poverty Centre in Brasilia (IPC). Initial support for this report w as provided by the Poverty G roup of the United Nations Developm ent Program m e in New York. This report is part of a w ider global research program m e encom passing several other countries. The view s in this report are the authors' and not necessarily IPC's. H ow ever, the IPC regards this report as an im portant contribution to the debate on econom ic policies and em ploym ent program m es in South A frica as w ell as in other countries in A frica.