IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v13y2025i5p125-d1649620.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Trade Openness and ICT on Technical Efficiency of Township Economies in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Brian Tavonga Mazorodze

    (Department of Accounting and Economics, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Sol Plaatje University, Kimberley 8301, South Africa)

Abstract

While the impact of trade openness on economic growth has been widely studied, its effect on township economies remains underexplored. In view of this empirical gap, this study examines the impact of trade openness proxied by export intensity on the technical efficiency of five major township economies in South Africa—Soweto, Khayelitsha, Alexandra, Tembisa, and Soshanguve—while considering the moderating role of information and communication technology (ICT). This aim speaks to the ongoing quest to unravel factors limiting the transformation of South African townships since the advent of democracy in 1994. The analysis uses an instrumental variable stochastic frontier model and annual panel data covering the 1995–2023 period. On average, the five townships were found to have operated 19% below their full potential during the sampling period, with Soweto being the least efficient. Holding constant factors peculiar to township economies, such as crime rates and informality, the main results show that ICT plays a positive moderating role in reducing trade-related technical inefficiencies of these townships. This finding underscores the importance of targeted policy interventions, such as investments in digital infrastructure and digital literacy programs, to ensure that township economies benefit from global markets and achieve their full potential.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian Tavonga Mazorodze, 2025. "The Impact of Trade Openness and ICT on Technical Efficiency of Township Economies in South Africa," Economies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-22, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:5:p:125-:d:1649620
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/5/125/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/5/125/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yusuf Abdulkarim, 2023. "Reevaluating the linkage between trade openness and economic growth in Nigeria," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(7), pages 1-33, July.
    2. Bosede Ngozi Adeleye & Festus Adedoyin & Solomon Nathaniel, 2021. "The criticality of ICT-trade nexus on economic and inclusive growth," Information Technology for Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 293-313, April.
    3. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    4. Mustafa U. Karakaplan, 2022. "Panel stochastic frontier models with endogeneity," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 22(3), pages 643-663, September.
    5. Kumbhakar,Subal C. & Wang,Hung-Jen & Horncastle,Alan P., 2015. "A Practitioner's Guide to Stochastic Frontier Analysis Using Stata," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107029514, Enero-Abr.
    6. Cassiano Bragagnolo & Humberto F. S. Spolador & Geraldo Sant’Ana de Camargo Barros, 2010. "Regional Brazilian Agriculture TFP Analysis: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis Approach," Economia, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics], vol. 11(4), pages 217-242.
    7. George R. G. Clarke & Scott J. Wallsten, 2006. "Has the Internet Increased Trade? Developed and Developing Country Evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 44(3), pages 465-484, July.
    8. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    9. Greene, William, 2005. "Reconsidering heterogeneity in panel data estimators of the stochastic frontier model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 269-303, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dibyendu Maiti & Chiranjib Neogi, 2024. "Endogeneity-corrected stochastic frontier with market imperfections," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 1149-1183, September.
    2. Luis Antonio Galiano Bastarrica & Eva M. Buitrago Esquinas & María Ángeles Caraballo Pou & Rocío Yñiguez Ovando, 2023. "Environmental adjustment of the EU27 GDP: an econometric quantitative model," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 115-128, March.
    3. repec:use:tkiwps:3232 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Sabrina Auci & Laura Castellucci & Manuela Coromaldi, 2021. "How does public spending affect technical efficiency? Some evidence from 15 European countries," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(1), pages 108-130, January.
    5. Ablam Estel APETI & Bao-We-Wal BAMBE & Jean Louis COMBES, 2022. "On the Macroeconomic Effects of Fiscal Reforms : Fiscal Rules and Public Expenditure Efficiency," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2985, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    6. Wanglin Ma & Kathryn Bicknell & Alan Renwick, 2019. "Feed use intensification and technical efficiency of dairy farms in New Zealand," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 63(1), pages 20-38, January.
    7. Orea, Luis, 2019. "The Econometric Measurement of Firms’ Efficiency," Efficiency Series Papers 2019/02, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    8. Gralka, Sabine, 2018. "Stochastic frontier analysis in higher education: A systematic review," CEPIE Working Papers 05/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    9. William C. Horrace & Yulong Wang, 2022. "Nonparametric tests of tail behavior in stochastic frontier models," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(3), pages 537-562, April.
    10. Martini, Gianmaria & Scotti, Davide & Viola, Domenico & Vittadini, Giorgio, 2020. "Persistent and temporary inefficiency in airport cost function: An application to Italy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 999-1019.
    11. Woong Lee, 2015. "Estimating Regional Matching Efficiency in the Indian Labor Market: State-Level Panel Data for 1999-2013," Working Papers 15-3, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
    12. Mamonov Mikhail E. & Parmeter Christopher F. & Prokhorov Artem B., 2022. "Dependence modeling in stochastic frontier analysis," Dependence Modeling, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 123-144, January.
    13. Emilie Caldeira & Alou Adessé Dama & Ali Compaoré & Mario Mansour & Grégoire Rota-Graziosi, 2020. "Tax effort in Sub-Saharan African countries : evidence from a new dataset," CERDI Working papers hal-02543162, HAL.
    14. Lukáš Čechura & Zdeňka Žáková Kroupová, 2021. "Technical Efficiency in the European Dairy Industry: Can We Observe Systematic Failures in the Efficiency of Input Use?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    15. Asfaw, Solomon & Cattaneo, Andrea & Pallante, Giacomo & Palma, Alessandro, 2017. "Improving the efficiency targeting of Malawi's farm input subsidy programme: Big pain, small gain?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 104-118.
    16. Federico Inchausti-Sintes & Ubay Pérez-Granja & José Juan Morales-Mohamed, 2021. "Analysing labour productivity and its economic consequences in the two Spanish tourist archipelagos," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(5), pages 1039-1059, August.
    17. Juan Cabas Monje & Bouali Guesmi & Amer Ait Sidhoum & José María Gil, 2023. "Measuring technical efficiency of Spanish pig farming: Quantile stochastic frontier approach," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(4), pages 688-703, October.
    18. Zarkovic, Maja, 2020. "Cap-and-trade and produce at least cost? Investigating firm behaviour in the EU ETS," Working papers 2020/12, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    19. Pontus Mattsson & Jonas Mansson & William H. Greene, 2018. "TFP Change and its Components for Swedish Manufacturing Firms During the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis," Working Papers 18-27, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    20. Adriana Cobas & Alexandros Maziotis & Andrés Villegas, 2023. "Measurement of Efficiency and its Drivers in the Chilean Banking Industry," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 987, Central Bank of Chile.
    21. Ather Hassan Dar & Somesh Kumar Mathur & Sila Mishra, 2021. "The Efficiency of Indian Banks: A DEA, Malmquist and SFA Analysis with Bad Output," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 19(4), pages 653-701, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:5:p:125-:d:1649620. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.