Wits SEF

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Professor Dorrit (Dori) Posel – Distinguished Professor, Helen Suzman Chair in Political Economy, and Professor in the School of Economics and Finance at the University of the Witwatersrand, has been named a finalist in the 2025/2026 National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)-South32 Awards, often described as the “Science Oscars” of South Africa.

She has been nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her outstanding and influential body of research, which has reshaped the understanding of households, marriage, migration, gender, and wellbeing in South Africa and internationally.

We are incredibly proud of this achievement and celebrate this well-deserved recognition. Congratulations, Professor Posel! 🎉

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This week’s post forms part of our celebration of , recognising excellence among our students. 🎓

We feature a paper completed as part of the Honours degree requirements by Finance Honours graduates, Mr Asanda Cele and Mr Ian Kisanya, under the supervision of Prof Moinak Maiti. The paper is titled: “Alternative assets performance in South Africa during pre and post COVID era”

As taken from the abstract:
"The study investigates the performance of gold and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in comparison to traditional assets such as stocks and bonds. In the context of South Africa, with the focused being the COVID-19 pandemic era, it analyses the performance of the alternative assets against traditional assets, by using risk adjusted return measures namely Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio and Jensen’s alpha.

In addition to it, the study utilizes wavelet analysis to determine the coherence periods of the different asset classes and possible diversification benefits. The results show that in South Africa, REITs underperform when compared to stocks on a risk adjusted basis and outperform bonds on a price return basis. We find that the underperformance of REITs against stocks is primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other, it is observed that gold tends to underperform relative to stocks on a price return and risk adjusted basis, however, outperforms bonds on a price return basis. Gold continues to show robust performance in economic uncertainty which is significant for portfolio construction. The wavelet analysis highlighted the diversification benefits of holding REITs and gold in a portfolio with period of low coherence and out of phase movements."

📄 Read the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.finr.2025.100076

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This week on , we feature Prof Chris Desmond, who recently co-authored a paper titled: “Describing the triple burden of malnutrition in adolescents in rural and urban South Africa”

As taken from the abstract:
"The objective of the study is to describe the triple burden of malnutrition among a large, school-going sample of adolescents in rural Agincourt and urban Soweto, South Africa. The paper uses a cross-sectional study design to examine adolescents from schools and community centres in rural Agincourt and urban Soweto, South Africa.

The results reveal a high burden of malnutrition, with 34.9% of adolescents either underweight, overweight, or obese. Underweight prevalence was 14.3%, with relatively uniform distribution across s*x and setting. Overweight and obesity were notably more prevalent in urban girls (32.3% and 7.0%, respectively), nearly doubling the rates observed in their rural peers (17.4% and 5.8%), and substantially higher than urban and rural boys (all < 6%).

To conclude, these findings highlight the complexity of the burden of malnutrition in adolescence, including both under- and over-nutrition with overlapping micronutrient deficiencies."

📄 Read the full paper here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16070658.2025.2590864

The Wits Fintech Hub in the School of Economics and Finance will be hosting two concurrent conferences in Cape Town from Wednesday, 28 October to Friday, 30 October 2026.

🔹 3rd Wits Global Fintech Conference | 28–29 October 2026
Theme: Shaping the Architecture of the Future Financial System
More info: https://lnkd.in/dVn2Cggi

🔹 3rd Wits Global Climate Finance Conference | 29–30 October 2026
Theme: Mobilizing Capital for a Just and Resilient Net-Zero World
More info: https://lnkd.in/eFHGGv4g

Call for papers and registration for both conferences are now open.

📌 Important Dates
• Paper submission deadline: Wednesday, 2 September 2026
• Registration deadline: Wednesday, 16 September 2026

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This week on hashtag , we feature Prof Volker Schoer, who recently co-authored a paper titled: “Gender differences in economic graph skills: How prior education shapes university readiness in South Africa”

As taken from the abstract:
"In this study, we investigate gender differences in economic graph skills among 723 first-year commerce students at a South African university. Graphs are central to economic understanding as they merge quantitative skills with conceptual reasoning. Prior research has found a gender gap in economics skills, often favoring male students. By measuring economic graph skills during the first week of lectures and linking it to students’ high school experiences, we examine the extent to which these differences reflect disparities in prior educational exposure—such as mathematics performance, language proficiency, and participation in economics classes—as well as affective characteristics like interest and confidence.

The results suggest that differences in the effectiveness or alignment of prior economics education may contribute to the observed gender gap in economic graph skills. Overall, the findings underscore the importance of earlier educational opportunities - particularly the quality and relevance of economics instruction - in shaping students’ readiness for graph-based reasoning in university-level economics. Gender differences in economic graph skills may therefore reflect not only general academic preparation but also differences in how educational pathways prepare students for core tasks in economics."

📄 Read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/dvBGCUAJ

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Please join us in congratulating one of our SEF academic staff members, Kate Rich, on her promotion to Senior Lecturer.

This achievement is a testament to her hard work, dedication, and contribution to teaching and research. Congratulations on this outstanding achievement, Dr Kate! 👏