Vimal Ranchhod
Biographic Data
| ID | 295689 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Vimal Ranchhod |
| GIVEN NAMES | Vimal |
| FAMILY NAME | Ranchhod |
| SIGNATURE | RANCHHOD V |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cape Town |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0365-5873 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 76 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Estimating the economy-wide and redistributive impacts of mitigation in South Africa
South Africa is characterized by high levels of poverty and inequality which make a large proportion of the population vulnerable to climate change. At the same time, the country is one of the largest producers of emissions per capita due to its dependence on fossil fuels. South Africa has committed to the global ambition to reduce emissions. In its Updated Nationally Determined Contribution, the country has agreed to reduce emissions to between …
Comment on Trisal 2025
Can Minimum Wages Effectively Reduce Poverty under Low Compliance? A Case Study from the Agricultural Sector in South Africa
What were the effects of a 52 per cent increase in the minimum wage in the agricultural sector in South Africa in 2013?We estimate the short run effects of this policy change on the income, employment, and poverty rate of farmworkers, using individual-level panel data from the Quarterly Labour Force Surveys (QLFS).Before the implementation date, 90 per cent of farmworkers were paid below the new minimum wage level.We find that the wage gain of fa…
The socioeconomic dimensions of racial inequality in South Africa
It is well evidenced that South Africa is characterised by extreme socioeconomic inequality, which is strongly racialised. We offer an original sociological perspective, which departs from established perspectives considering the dynamics of vulnerability and poverty to focus on the structuring of classed and racialised privilege. We map how stocks of economic, cultural, and social capital intersect to generate systematic and structural inequalit…
Age, employment and labour force participation outcomes in Covid-era South Africa
In this paper we use data from waves 1–5 of NIDS-CRAM to investigate labour market outcomes in 2020/1 for four age groups: youth (aged 18–24), prime-age adults (aged 25–39), middle-age adults (aged 40–54) and older adults (aged 55–64). We contrast outcomes just before and just after the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown (February and April 2020) with outcomes one year later (March 2021), and study transitions between the periods. We fi…
Understanding the effects of racial classification in Apartheid South Africa
Piketty comes to South Africa
One of the most valuable features ofCapital and Ideologyis its concern to take history seriously and consider how the emergence of different political and economic regimes relate to discourses about fairness and justice across time. This paper pushes this agenda further by acknowledging that the experience of a few developed nations should not be taken as the template for the generalized study of inequality dynamics across time and space. In this…
Locked down and locked out
Taking stock of South African income inequality
We synthesize the findings from several recent papers on South Africa’s very high income inequality. These papers use new datasets—including income tax data—and new empirical methods to investigate the drivers of household income and individual earnings inequality in South Africa. Increased returns to experience and an increased rate of return to tertiary qualifications are key drivers of a widening earnings distribution. Tax data merged with sur…
Genuine Fakes
How prevalent is data fabrication in household surveys? Would such fabrication substantially affect the validity of empirical analyses? We document how we identified such fabrication in South Africa's longitudinal National Income Dynamics Study, which affected about 7% of the sample. The fabrication was detected while fieldwork was still on-going, and the relevant interviews were reconducted. We thus have an observed counterfactual that allows us…
The Influence of Older Classmates on Adolescent Sexual Behavior in Cape Town, South Africa
This study examines the influence of exposure to older within‐grade peers on sexual behavior among students in urban South Africa. Data are drawn from the Cape Area Panel Study, a longitudinal survey of young people conducted in metropolitan Cape Town from 2002 to 2006. The combination of early sexual debut, high rates of school enrollment into the late teens, and grade repetition create an environment in which young people who progress through s…
Evidence on the impact of minimum wage laws in an informal sector
Sexual Behavior, Pregnancy, and Schooling Among Young People in Urban South Africa
This study examines transitions in schooling, sexual activity, and pregnancy among adolescents and young adults in urban South Africa. Data are analyzed from the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS), a recently collected longitudinal survey of young adults and their families in metropolitan Cape Town. We find that teen pregnancy is not entirely inconsistent with continued schooling, especially for African (black) women. More than 50 percent of African wo…
Evidence on the impact of minimum wage laws in an informal sector
Sexual Behavior, Pregnancy, and Schooling Among Young People in Urban South Africa
This study examines transitions in schooling, sexual activity, and pregnancy among adolescents and young adults in urban South Africa. Data are analyzed from the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS), a recently collected longitudinal survey of young adults and their families in metropolitan Cape Town. We find that teen pregnancy is not entirely inconsistent with continued schooling, especially for African (black) women. More than 50 percent of African wo…
Locked down and locked out
The Influence of Older Classmates on Adolescent Sexual Behavior in Cape Town, South Africa
This study examines the influence of exposure to older within‐grade peers on sexual behavior among students in urban South Africa. Data are drawn from the Cape Area Panel Study, a longitudinal survey of young people conducted in metropolitan Cape Town from 2002 to 2006. The combination of early sexual debut, high rates of school enrollment into the late teens, and grade repetition create an environment in which young people who progress through s…
Understanding the effects of racial classification in Apartheid South Africa
The socioeconomic dimensions of racial inequality in South Africa
It is well evidenced that South Africa is characterised by extreme socioeconomic inequality, which is strongly racialised. We offer an original sociological perspective, which departs from established perspectives considering the dynamics of vulnerability and poverty to focus on the structuring of classed and racialised privilege. We map how stocks of economic, cultural, and social capital intersect to generate systematic and structural inequalit…
Piketty comes to South Africa
One of the most valuable features ofCapital and Ideologyis its concern to take history seriously and consider how the emergence of different political and economic regimes relate to discourses about fairness and justice across time. This paper pushes this agenda further by acknowledging that the experience of a few developed nations should not be taken as the template for the generalized study of inequality dynamics across time and space. In this…
Sexual Behavior, Pregnancy, and Schooling Among Young People in Urban South Africa
This study examines transitions in schooling, sexual activity, and pregnancy among adolescents and young adults in urban South Africa. Data are analyzed from the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS), a recently collected longitudinal survey of young adults and their families in metropolitan Cape Town. We find that teen pregnancy is not entirely inconsistent with continued schooling, especially for African (black) women. More than 50 percent of African wo…
Evidence on the impact of minimum wage laws in an informal sector
The Influence of Older Classmates on Adolescent Sexual Behavior in Cape Town, South Africa
This study examines the influence of exposure to older within‐grade peers on sexual behavior among students in urban South Africa. Data are drawn from the Cape Area Panel Study, a longitudinal survey of young people conducted in metropolitan Cape Town from 2002 to 2006. The combination of early sexual debut, high rates of school enrollment into the late teens, and grade repetition create an environment in which young people who progress through s…
Genuine Fakes
How prevalent is data fabrication in household surveys? Would such fabrication substantially affect the validity of empirical analyses? We document how we identified such fabrication in South Africa's longitudinal National Income Dynamics Study, which affected about 7% of the sample. The fabrication was detected while fieldwork was still on-going, and the relevant interviews were reconducted. We thus have an observed counterfactual that allows us…
Taking stock of South African income inequality
We synthesize the findings from several recent papers on South Africa’s very high income inequality. These papers use new datasets—including income tax data—and new empirical methods to investigate the drivers of household income and individual earnings inequality in South Africa. Increased returns to experience and an increased rate of return to tertiary qualifications are key drivers of a widening earnings distribution. Tax data merged with sur…
Locked down and locked out
Piketty comes to South Africa
One of the most valuable features ofCapital and Ideologyis its concern to take history seriously and consider how the emergence of different political and economic regimes relate to discourses about fairness and justice across time. This paper pushes this agenda further by acknowledging that the experience of a few developed nations should not be taken as the template for the generalized study of inequality dynamics across time and space. In this…
Age, employment and labour force participation outcomes in Covid-era South Africa
In this paper we use data from waves 1–5 of NIDS-CRAM to investigate labour market outcomes in 2020/1 for four age groups: youth (aged 18–24), prime-age adults (aged 25–39), middle-age adults (aged 40–54) and older adults (aged 55–64). We contrast outcomes just before and just after the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown (February and April 2020) with outcomes one year later (March 2021), and study transitions between the periods. We fi…
Understanding the effects of racial classification in Apartheid South Africa
Can Minimum Wages Effectively Reduce Poverty under Low Compliance? A Case Study from the Agricultural Sector in South Africa
What were the effects of a 52 per cent increase in the minimum wage in the agricultural sector in South Africa in 2013?We estimate the short run effects of this policy change on the income, employment, and poverty rate of farmworkers, using individual-level panel data from the Quarterly Labour Force Surveys (QLFS).Before the implementation date, 90 per cent of farmworkers were paid below the new minimum wage level.We find that the wage gain of fa…
The socioeconomic dimensions of racial inequality in South Africa
It is well evidenced that South Africa is characterised by extreme socioeconomic inequality, which is strongly racialised. We offer an original sociological perspective, which departs from established perspectives considering the dynamics of vulnerability and poverty to focus on the structuring of classed and racialised privilege. We map how stocks of economic, cultural, and social capital intersect to generate systematic and structural inequalit…
Comment on Trisal 2025
Estimating the economy-wide and redistributive impacts of mitigation in South Africa
South Africa is characterized by high levels of poverty and inequality which make a large proportion of the population vulnerable to climate change. At the same time, the country is one of the largest producers of emissions per capita due to its dependence on fossil fuels. South Africa has committed to the global ambition to reduce emissions. In its Updated Nationally Determined Contribution, the country has agreed to reduce emissions to between …
Economics (10 works) · Geography (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Demography (5 works) · Economic growth (5 works) · Income, Poverty, and Inequality (5 works) · Medicine (5 works) · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare (5 works) · Demography (4 works)