Department of Economics

Research

Staff research profiles

Professors

Prof D Hodge

Office: 4-11

Email: hodged@unisa.ac.za

Prof Hodge holds a DCom (Economics) degree from Rhodes University. He has published various articles on philosophy of economics in the areas of realism in economics, the connection between economic theory and reality, and applied methodology.

Supervision: Qualitative studies

Prof P Lalthapersad-Pillay

Office: 4-34

Email: lalthp@unisa.ac.za

Research profile:

Unisa IR

Prof Lalthapersad-Pillay holds a PhD (Economics) degree from Vista University. Her research focus is on gender issues, poverty, the informal sector and other topics in development economics.

Supervision: Qualitative studies

Prof NM Odhiambo

Office: 4-50

Email: odhiam@unisa.ac.za

Research profile:

Ideas/RePEc

Prof Odhiambo holds a PhD (Economics) degree from Stellenbosch University. His broad area of research is in Development Economics, Macroeconomics, International Economics and Monetary Economics. He is also the chairperson of the Macroeconomic Policy Analysis (MPA) research programme. Prof Odhiambo holds an NRF C2 rating.

Supervision: Quantitative (Time series econometrics and Panel Data Analysis)

Econometrics: Advanced

Prof Z Robinson

Office: 5-77

Email: robinz@unisa.ac.za

Research profile:

ORCID

Prof Robinson holds a PhD (Economics) from the University of Cape Town. Her research focuses mainly on Public Economics, finance and mineral issues. 

Supervision:  Quantitative and qualitative research (Time series and Panel Data Analysis)

Econometrics: Advanced

Prof T van der Merwe

Office: 4-27

Email: vdmert@unisa.ac.za

Research profile:

Unisa IR

ORCID

Prof Van der Merwe holds a PhD (Economics) degree from the University of South Africa. His research focuses on public economics, especially social security issues, as well as the economics of language.

Supervision: Qualitative research

Econometrics: Basic

Associate Professors

Prof SY Ho

Office: 4-22

Email: hosy@unisa.ac.za

Research profile:

ORCID

Dr Sin-Yu Ho holds a PhD (Economics) from the University of South Africa and a C2 rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF). Her research focuses on topics relating to Development Finance, Financial Economics, and Development Economics in emerging markets and developing countries.

Supervision: Quantitative and qualitative research (Time series econometrics)

Econometrics: Intermediate

Prof TLA Leshoro

Office: 4-44

Email: lesholat@unisa.ac.za

Research profile:

Ideas/RePEc

Google Scholar

Prof Leshoro holds a PhD (Economics) from the University of the Witwatersrand. Her research interests are Monetary Economics and Macroeconomics.

Supervision: Quantitative research (Time Series and Panel Data Analysis)

Econometrics: Advanced

Prof MR Malefane

Office: 4-41

Email: malefmr@unisa.ac.za

Prof Malefane holds a PhD (Economics) from the University of South Africa. Her research interests are in economic growth, International trade and International Finance.

Supervision: Quantitative research (Time series econometrics)

Econometrics: Intermediate

Prof N Mkhize (CoD)

Office: 4-37

Email: mkhizni@unisa.ac.za

Research profile:

ORCID

Prof Mkhize holds a PhD (Economics) degree from the University of South Africa.  His research focus areas include Labour Economics, Open Economy Macroeconomics, inclusive growth, Public Finance, and Health Economics.

Supervision: Qualitative and quantitative (Time series econometrics)

Econometrics: Intermediate

Prof B Moyo

Office: 4-45

Email: moyob@unisa.ac.za

Research profile:

Google Scholar

Prof Moyo holds a PhD (Economics) from the University of the Witwatersrand. His research interests are in Microeconomics, International trade and International Finance. Prof Moyo also holds an NRF Y2 rating.

Supervision: Quantitative (Micro-econometrics, Panel data analysis, CGE modelling)

Econometrics: Advanced

Prof S Nhamo

Office: 4-21

Email: nhamos@unisa.ac.za

Research profile:

ORCID

Prof Nhamo holds a PhD(Economics) degree from the University of the Witwatersrand. Her research focuses on topics relating to Environmental Economics, Development Economics and Health Economics.

Supervision: Quantitative  and qualitative research

Econometrics: Advanced

Prof PH van Eeghen

Office: 4-39

Email: veeghph@unisa.ac.za

Prof Van Eeghen holds a DCom (Economics) from the University of South Africa. His research interests include Monetary Economics, Money and Banking, and Institutional Economics.

Supervision: Qualitative, conceptual research

Econometrics: Rudimentary

Senior Lecturers

Dr K Amusa

Office: 4-47

Email: amusako@unisa.ac.za

Research profile:

ORCID

Dr Amusa holds a PhD (Economics) degree from the University of Pretoria. Her research interests are in the area of international trade theory and policy and economic growth issues as regards developing economies.

Supervision: Quantitative research (Time series econometrics and Panel data analysis)

Econometrics: Intermediate

Dr SJ Joubert

Office: 4-46

Email: sjjoube@unisa.ac.za

Dr Joubert holds a DCom (Economics) from the University of South Africa. His research interests include financial markets, household finances and fiscal sustainability.

Supervision: Quantitative research (Time series econometrics)

Econometrics: Advanced

Dr S Kennedy-Palmer

Office: 5-71

Email: kennes@unisa.ac.za

Dr Kennedy-Palmer holds a PhD (Economics) from the University of Cape Town. Her research interests are in financial markets, financial instruments and systemic risk.

Supervision: Quantitative research (Time series and panel data econometrics)

Econometrics: Intermediate

Dr I Maloma

Office: 4-06

Email: malomi@unisa.ac.za

Dr Maloma holds a PhD (Economics) degree from the North West University. Dr Maloma’s research focus is on Economic development, poverty and Local Economic Development.

Supervision: Quantitative and Qualitative research

Econometrics: Basic

Dr T Rametsi

Office: 4-09

Email: rametts@unisa.ac.za

Dr Rametsi holds a PhD (Economics) degree from the North-West University. His research focus is in International Economics.

Supervision: Qualitative and quantitative

Econometrics: Basics

Dr C Vermeulen

Office: 4-13

E-mail: vermejc@unisa.ac.za

Research profile:

Ideas/RePEc

ORCID

Dr Vermeulen holds a PhD (Economics) degree from the University of Pretoria. His research is focused mainly on monetary economics (including the role and independence of the central bank, the impact of inflation and inflation targeting on growth and employment), as well as business cycles, asset markets and general equilibrium modelling.

Supervision: Qualitative and quantitative (Time series econometrics, DSGE modelling)

Econometrics: Intermediate

Dr M Zuka

Office: 4-43

Email:

zukam@unisa.ac.za

Research profile:

ORCID

Dr Zuka holds a PhD (Financial Economics) from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. His research focuses on topics relating to bayesian econometrics under ambiguity, financial economics, macroeconomics and macro - finance channels. The specific focus areas are:

  • Asset pricing models
  • Non-parametric bayesian mixture approximation techniques.
  • Portfolio Optimization & Value at Risk.
  • Macroprudential Policy and Pension Fund Reforms
  • Asset Class Coverage: Hedge Funds, Exchange Traded Funds, Sovereign Debt, Equities, Commodities and Forex.
  • DSGE Models.
  • Special Topics in Mathematical Statistics

Supervision: Qualitative

Econometrics: Advanced

Lecturers

Ms G Maluleke

Office: 4-15

Email: malulg@unisa.ac.za

Ms Maluleke holds an MCom (Economics) degree from the University of South Africa. Her research interests are in Macroeconomics, Public Finance, Economic Development and International Trade.

 Recent publications

Macroeconomic Policy Analysis (MPA) research flagship programme

The Department of Economics houses the Macroeconomic Policy Analysis (MPA) research programme, which was first established in 2013, under the leadership of Prof Nicholas Odhiambo. The main purpose of the MPA programme is to evaluate some of the macroeconomic policies that have a direct or indirect bearing on economic growth and poverty reduction, as well as other socio-economic policy variables. The programme also has its signature working paper series entitled “UNISA Economic Research Working Paper Series” (https://ideas.repec.org/s/uza/wpaper.html), which is currently used to disseminate some of its research findings to the international community. This working paper series (which was established in 2015) is currently indexed by RePEc/IDEAS (hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USA); and it is also available on Google Scholar. The MPA programme currently has about 20 doctoral students.

Contact details:

Prof NM Odhiambo

Chair (MPA)

odhiam@unisa.ac.za

012 433 4673

Ms M Mokgele

Administrative officer

mokgemc@unisa.ac.za

012 433 4624

Current postgraduate students

Current research and topics of our masters and doctoral students can be viewed here.

Seminar series

The Department hosts a regular seminar series, where staff members, graduate students and invited guests from academia and industry present talks or recent research.

Last modified: 2023/08/07