Economic Studies
Shale Gas Development in the Central Karoo – Impacts on Social Fabric
The term “social fabric” embraces numerous complex and interrelated phenomena, including demographic and economic factors, behavioural issues (e.g. investment choices, political dynamics), social institutions (e.g. families), social organisations (e.g. municipalities and churches), and social networks, or relationships amongst people. The social fabric is underpinned by people’s beliefs and sentiments, including a sense of belonging and…
Read MoreShale Gas Development in the Central Karoo – Impacts on the Economy
Shale gas development (SGD) has the potential to yield highly significant economic opportunities, but also bears risks engendered by the extractive nature of SGD. In both respects it parallels other divisions of the mining sector. Previous South African research into the macro-economic opportunities associated with SGD reveals little agreement on likely benefits, their extent, or…
Read MoreEconomic decline and gentrification in a small town: the business sector in Aberdeen, Eastern Cape
Economic decline and gentrification in a small town: the business sector in Aberdeen, Eastern Cape, Doreen Atkinson Development Southern Africa, Volume 26, Issue 2 pp. 271-288 | DOI: 10.1080/03768350902899595 Abstract Small towns are a neglected topic of study but they are gaining importance in South Africa because of rapid urbanisation. This paper discusses a case study…
Read MoreA multi-dimensional analysis of local economic development in Graaff-Reinet
Doreen Atkinson and Mark Ingle “A multi-dimensional analysis of local economic development in Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape”, Journal for New Generation Sciences, vol. 8 no. 1, 11-28. Abstract This article presents the results of a business survey conducted in the Great Karoo town of Graaff-Reinet. The survey solicited the views of business owners on a range of…
Read MoreChanges in small towns in South Africa’s Karoo
Etienne Nel, B Taylor, T Hill, D Atkinson “Changes in small towns in South Africa’s Karoo: Looking from the inside out”. Urban Forum, published online, 17 August 2011. Abstract This article seeks to situate the experience of demographic and economic change in South African small towns within a broader context. Drawing on international literature detailing…
Read MoreProportionality in enterprise development of South Afrian towns
Toerien DF and Seaman MT Proportionality in enterprise development of South Afrian towns. SA Journal of Science 108: 1-10.(2012) Abstract Two concepts, (1) companies are ‘living’ entities and (2) ‘company ecology’, stimulated our hypothesis that towns are ‘enterprise ecosystems’. This hypothesis cannot be tested directly. However, if it is correct, application of clustering and…
Read MoreEnterprise richness as an important characteristic of SA towns
Toerien, DF (2014), Enterprise richness as an important characteristic of South African towns, South African Journal of Science, November/December. Abstract Towards the end of the 20th century there were almost 500 small towns of fewer than 50 000 persons in South Africa, accommodating about one tenth of the country’s population. Little was known or…
Read MorePrince Albert: A fourth economic bubble or sustainable development?
Toerien, DF (2012), Prince Albert: A fourth economic bubble or sustainable development? R Donaldson and L Marais (eds), Small Town Geographies in Africa: Experiences from South Africa and Elsewhere, Nova Press, (2012). (Author contact: dtoerien@gonet.co.za)
Read MoreRegional order in the enterprise structures of selected Eastern Cape Karoo towns
Toerien, DF and MT Seaman, MT (2012), Regional order in the enterprise structures of selected Eastern Cape Karoo towns, South African Geographical Journal, vol. 94, no. 2. (2012) Abstract Proportionality phenomena have earlier been observed in the enterprise structures of South African towns. A question remained whether small towns also exhibit such hidden order.…
Read MoreProportionality in enterprise development of SA Towns
Toerien, DF and Seaman, MT (2012), Proportionality in enterprise development of South African towns, South African Journal of Science, May/June. Abstract We investigated proportionalities in the enterprise structures of 125 South African towns through examining four hypotheses, (1) the magnitude of enterprise development in a town is a function of the population size of…
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