Heard what happened when the Past, the Present and the Future walked into a bar? It was tense. There must have been some ‘tense’ engagements then at the 2021 Public Economics Winter School.

If you are not familiar with this School of Economics, you should know that public economics, also known as the economics of the public sector, is the study of government policy through the lens of economic efficiency and equity. Consequently, public economics builds on the theory of welfare economics and is used to improve social welfare. The broad topics of public economics include the theory and application of public finance, the analysis and design of public policy, the distributional effects of taxation and government expenditure, and the analysis of market and government failure.

Just before welfare economics slips from your grasp, www.investopedia.com defines it as the study of how the allocation of resources and goods affects social welfare, adding that it relates directly to the study of economic efficiency and income distribution, as well as how these two factors impact on the overall wellbeing of people. So, in practical terms, welfare economists seek to provide tools to guide public policy to achieve beneficial socioeconomic outcomes for all of society. It is, however, important to bear in mind that welfare economics is a subjective study that depends heavily on chosen assumptions regarding how welfare can be defined, measured and compared for individuals and society as a whole.

From August 17 to 19, aspirant policymakers and economists had the opportunity to learn from what the National Treasury described as “some of the most brilliant minds on the African continent” at the Public Economics Winter School hosted by the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC), the National Treasury and the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.

The GTAC is an agency of the National Treasury that supports public finance management through professional advisory services, programme and project management and transaction support. It promotes public-sector capacity building through partnerships with academic and research institutions, civil society and business organisations.

The National Treasury stated in a media release: “The Winter School comes at a crucial time, as South Africa, like other nations across the globe, battles to contain the spread of Covid-19, while striving to protect the livelihoods of citizens. The core focus of this initiative is to educate postgraduate students wishing to pursue a career in public economics or policy analysis. The Winter School will also serve to foster solutions-driven discussions that tackle South Africa’s socioeconomic issues. Participants will get an opportunity to engage with senior public-sector officials and academics. The pandemic has accentuated the notion that health and wealth are intertwined. Therefore, the GTAC has gathered a line-up of thought leaders who will speak to issues of public health and economic progress, experts such as Dr Glenda Gray, Dr Noluthando Nematswerani and Professors Haroon Bhorat, Imraan Valodia and Steven Friedman. The devastating effects of Covid-19 on our economy and the tragic loss of lives warrant continued efforts from all sectors of society to find viable solutions. “Many businesses have had to shut down, while more than seven-million people have lost their jobs since the advent of the pandemic in 2020. As a think-tank that provides advisory support to the National Treasury and other departments, the GTAC believes in the importance of skills development to increase the level of expertise in the country. The aim is to inspire innovative thinking that will help the country to move forward.”

While Covid-19 might be a contributing factor, it is not a major factor in South Africa’s economic decline.

Since South Africa’s stellar economic performance is relegated to the country’s past, I thought the most apt headline for this piece should be ‘pluperfect’. In English grammar, the pluperfect is the past perfect tense, since it combines the past tense with the perfect aspect.