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Simon Roberts

Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development, University of Johannesburg

Professor Roberts held the position of Chief Economist and Manager of the Policy & Research Division at the Competition Commission from November 2006 to December 2012. Prior to joining the Competition Commission he was Associate Professor of Economics at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he established and directed the Corporate Strategy and Industrial Development research programme examining firm decision-making and economic outcomes. In addition, Simon has consulted extensively on competition matters over the past 15 years and has been an expert witness in a number of major cases.

Previous positions include lecturer in Development Economics, University of East Anglia, UK; Senior Research Officer, Bank of Botswana; and lecturer in Economics, University College Cork, Ireland. Simon holds a PhD from University of London (Birkbeck College), MA from University of East Anglia, and BA (Hons) from Oxford University.

He has published widely including in the World Competition, Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Industrial and Corporate Change, Journal of African Economies, Development and Change, Journal of International Development, and the South African Journal of Economics.

Food crisis in Africa: the high cost of imported fertilisers is adding to the problem

Jul 27, 2023 08:50 am UTC| Economy

Global fertiliser suppliers have made incredibly high profits in 2022/23 on the back of price spikes attributed to the Russia-Ukraine war. The profits of the worlds top nine producers trebled in 2022 from two years...

South Africa's economy is badly skewed to the big guys: how it can be changed

Mar 14, 2018 08:51 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

The South African economy looks uncomfortably the same to the one inherited when the country transitioned from apartheid to democracy in 1994. Which is why its time for a robust economic policy agenda to make it more open,...

Economy

China Cuts Tariffs on U.S. Farm Goods but Excludes Soybeans

China is preparing to reduce tariffs on a wide range of U.S. agricultural products, including corn, wheat, meat and dairy, as Beijing and Washington move to ease trade tensions following last weeks summit between Chinese...

Asian Currencies Weaken as Dollar, Oil Prices Rise

Asian currencies mostly weakened on Monday, with the Japanese yen approaching recent lows as the U.S. dollar stayed near a two-month high. Elevated oil prices stemming from the U.S.-Iran standoff and expectations for...

Asian Stocks Fall as Oil Surge, Bond Yields and AI Concerns Hit Markets

Asian stock markets mostly declined on Monday as rising oil prices, elevated global bond yields and renewed uncertainty over a potential U.S.-Iran truce dampened investor sentiment. Semiconductor stocks faced additional...

BlackRock’s Rick Rieder Favors Bonds Over Stocks as Treasury Yields Surge

BlackRocks Rick Rieder is reducing his exposure to stocks as higher bond yields make fixed income increasingly attractive compared with equities. Rieder, BlackRocks chief investment officer of global fixed income, oversees...

XRP Price Targets $1.70 as Bullish Momentum Builds

XRP is showing renewed bullish momentum on September 28, with the cryptocurrency trading near $1.537 after recovering from its recent consolidation phase. The latest XRP price action keeps the $1.65$1.70 resistance zone...

Politics

Bitcoin Slides Below $84K as Trump Signals Possible New Iran Strikes

Bitcoin and U.S. technology stocks started the new week under pressure as renewed uncertainty over the U.S.-Iran conflict weighed on risk appetite and pushed oil prices higher. Bitcoin (BTC) fell 1.3% to around $83,324 at...

Russian Bomb Strike on Kharkiv Injures 22, Including Children

A Russian guided aerial bomb struck an apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, injuring 22 people, including children, local authorities said early Monday. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported the...

China, US Extend Trade Truce Through January 10 After Trump-Xi Summit

China confirmed Monday that its trade truce with the United States will be extended by two months through January 10, giving the worlds two largest economies additional time to assess existing agreements and pursue further...

Taiwan Pushes Back on China’s World War Two Narrative After Trump-Xi Summit

Taiwan is challenging Beijings portrayal of World War Two history after Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump emphasized the wartime partnership between China and the United States during Xis state...

South Korea Demands Ukraine Apology Over North Korean POW Disclosure

South Koreas presidential office has demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine over the disclosure of the transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul, accusing Kyiv of breaching a...

Science

Blue Origin New Glenn Explosion Could Delay Launch Operations Until 2028

Blue Origin is facing a significant setback after a dramatic explosion involving its New Glenn rocket severely damaged a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, repairs to the...

Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Launch Pad Test, Delaying Space Ambitions

Blue Origin suffered a major setback after its uncrewed New Glenn rocket exploded during a launch pad test in Florida on Thursday, raising new challenges for Jeff Bezos space company as it competes with Elon Musks SpaceX...

SpaceX Delays Starship V3 Launch Ahead of Potential Record IPO

SpaceX on Thursday postponed the highly anticipated launch of its 12th Starship rocket test from Texas after technical issues interrupted the final countdown. The company now plans to attempt the Starship V3 launch again...

Trump Administration Releases New UFO Files and Apollo Mission Records

The U.S. Defense Department has released dozens of previously classified UFO-related files following an order from President Donald Trump, sparking renewed debate over unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and government...

China vs. NASA: The New Moon Race and What's at Stake by 2030

The space race is back and this time, its a direct competition between the United States and China for dominance on the lunar surface. NASAs Artemis II mission recently made history when four astronauts flew farther into...

Technology

OpenAI Investigates Rogue AI Agents After Data Leaks and Security Incidents

OpenAI is continuing a broad investigation into unauthorized and unexpected activity by its AI agents, two months after disclosing that agents had broken containment and accessed Hugging Face systems. The ChatGPT developer...

TSMC Accelerates 2nm Expansion as AI Chip Demand Surges

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is accelerating the expansion of its advanced 2-nanometre chip production capacity as rising demand from artificial intelligence and high-performance computing customers drives...

Morgan Stanley Raises TD Synnex Price Target to $359 on Strong AI Demand

Morgan Stanley raised its price target on TD Synnex Corp (NYSE: SNX) after the technology distributor delivered stronger-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results and an upbeat outlook, supported by accelerating...

OpenAI, Anthropic CEOs Summoned to Australia AI Inquiry

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have been asked to appear before an Australian Senate inquiry into artificial intelligence following revelations that an OpenAI agent accessed the countrys Medicare...

OpenAI AI Agents Bypassed UN Website Controls in Data Scraping

OpenAIs autonomous AI agents used increasingly aggressive methods to retrieve public data from a United Nations website, including bypassing restrictions designed to block automated requests, according to a Wall Street...