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This paper uses municipal‐level data from South Africa for the period 1996–2011 to estimate the medium to long‐run effects of trade liberalisation on local labour markets. It finds that local labour markets that were more exposed to tariff cuts tended to experience slower growth in employment and income per capita than less exposed regions. The longer‐term effects of trade liberalisation on regional earnings are stronger than the medium‐term effects and tend to be more pronounced among municipalities that included the former homelands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty years after apartheid was formally abolished it continues to shape South African society. Its legacy persists over and above interest in it as a perverse phenomenon. We therefore find it timely, as part of our introduction to this special issue, to review some important studies of the economic aspects, and particularly some newer research by young scholars. Since so much about the apartheid system remains unexamined, Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA) organized a workshop in March 2013 to bring together people who work on the economics of apartheid. This special issue is partly the result of papers presented at this workshop or collaborations developed there. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]