Econ 3x3 is an editorially independent forum. Established in 2012 as part of the Research Project on Employment, Income Distribution and Inclusive Growth (REDI3x3) (link), it was sponsored by the National Treasury as a collaborative economic research initiative and is supported by the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town and the Department of Economics at the University of the Free State.
On completion of the REDI3x3 project in 2020 it was agreed that Econ3x3 should continue as a forum for ongoing debate and publication of policy-relevant research, under the auspices of the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) at the University of Cape Town.
With effect from February 2025, Econ3x3 will be taken forward through a collaboration between SALDRU and the UNU-Wider Southern Africa – Towards Inclusive Development (SA-TIED) research programme, in which South Africa’s National Treasury and the SA Revenue Service are active partners.
The SALDRU- UNU-Wider collaboration provides for continued publication of concise research articles on South Africa’s employment, income distribution and inclusive growth challenges, including summaries of papers published through the SA-TIED research initiative. It also provides for mentorship and training of young researchers and support for dialogue and debate on critical policy issues.
Econ3x3 aims to strengthen engagement between research and policy making and to contribute to better coordinated, consistent and effective economic and social policies directed particularly at the critical problem areas of unemployment, inequality and poverty. The focus is therefore largely on underlying, longer-term, structural relationships and dynamics in the economy, but analytical perspectives on cyclical or current policy debates are also welcome.. Econ3x3 seeks to contribute to economic policy debates but also encourages complementary and multi-disciplinary discussions.
Contributions to Econ3x3 are expected to be analytically rigorous but also more accessible than academic journal articles. Submitted drafts are carefully reviewed before publication, both for clarity and coherence of argument and for language and style. Econ3x3 provides a unique platform for researchers to get their research findings into the public domain and into other media outlets. It is intended to facilitate active debate on policy issues and it provides a forum through which policy advisors can engage with the research community, with colleagues, with private sector analysts and with civil society stakeholders.
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