CHASM Seminar: distributional balance sheets of South African households

Speaker: Professor Bernadene de Clercq – UNISA, South Africa

UNISA regularly undertakes work examining all aspects of personal finance in South Africa in the College of Accounting Sciences and the Bureau of Market Research. Professor de Clercq completed her doctoral studies in the field of consumer financial vulnerability and has been actively involved research regarding financial wellness as well as financial literacy. Since May 2015 she is also a member of the OECD/INFE Research Committee, a group of researchers across the world focusing on financial education.

This seminar will provide details of a number of recent projects undertaken by the Research Group. In particular it will include interim results of a project, undertaken in conjunction with the World Bank, aiming at getting an understanding of the distributional household balance sheet dynamics of South Africa and the linkages between such balance sheet outcomes and human capabilities. The focus of the research is on the extent of wealth inequalities in South Africa and the level to which household capabilities and other variables in the capabilities-to-wealth cascade path affect household wealth levels and household wealth distribution (including wealth inequalities in South Africa).

Also covered will be an overview of other recent projects undertaken by the Research Group such as the Financial Wellness Study that they are developing in conjunction with Momentum in South Africa and the UK and with the University of Bristol.