Trade fragmentation within global trading systems refers to the increasing complexity and division of trade links between various countries, often associated with the rise of regional trade agreements that create distinct trading blocs. This paper examines the impact of trade openness on the economic growth of 31 selected nations within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) between 1990 and 2024. The paper utilised the Pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression. The findings indicate that trade openness has a positive influence on economic growth. Furthermore, CO2 emissions and political stability have a positive influence on economic growth within the nations. This paper, therefore, recommends strengthening trade relations, boosting energy transitions, and utilising clean energy sources as a means of increasing trade while also mitigating environmental degradation.

Producing employable graduates who contribute significantly to sustainable economic growth and development has been the main goal of higher education institutions globally. However, there has been a growing concern about the quality of higher education, especially its relevance to the job market. This is because graduates are often found to be employed outside the job markets that universities traditionally prepare them for, and even when they do find employment, how well they perform their work remains a major question. This systematic literature review examined higher education institutions and employability in South Africa, with particular emphasis on how effectively they produce employable graduates. The literature review used a systematic approach to search for relevant studies across 7 academic databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, OpenAlex, Scopus, Lens, Semantic Scholar, and Web of Science. Based on the literature review's inclusion criteria, 1000 publications were initially identified. These included journal articles, books, book chapters, proceedings, datasets, edited books, posted content, reference entries, monographs, peer reviews, and other works on the relationship between higher education institutions and employability from 2015 to 2025. By synthesising and assessing the studies for eligibility, the study identified 25 relevant research articles. The data from the 25 articles were analysed and synthesised to identify the nexus between higher education institutions and employability within South Africa. From the 25 assessed articles, the study found that the adaptation of South African higher education institutions to the Four Industrial Revolution (4IR), the use of online learning tools and AI, government expenditure on higher education student performance, graduates’ employable skills and competencies, digitalisation, quality assurance and globalisation of the South African higher education systems were crucial in increasing the graduates’ chances of employability. In addition to the review, the study also summarised the determinants of graduates’ employability. To increase graduates’ employability, this study therefore recommends increasing work-integrated learning (WIL), skills-enhancing activities, mentorship programs, and transversal competencies.

While many scholars argue that education plays a significant role in promoting human capital development evidence suggest that South Africa's human capital index is relatively lower than other countries (0.4 in 2020) as the nation is still making strides in boosting its childhood environment and this is seen in its under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) which has increased enormously between 2020 and 2022 from 29 to 40 deaths per 1000 live births. The study examined the impact of human capital development on U5MR in South Africa using time series data spanning from 1994 to 2023. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method was utilised to investigate the longrun correlation between U5MR and explanatory variables, namely female literacy(FL), health access and quality(HAQ), child immunization rate (CIR), access to improved sanitation and clean water (ISW) and prevalence of HIV/AIDS (POH) in South Africa. The analysis reveals that FL, HAQ and CIR have an insignificant correlation with U5MR. Furthermore, the analysis shows that there exists a positive correlation between ISW and U5MR and a negative correlation between POH and U5MR in the nation. This study, therefore, recommends the "start before conception and continue through the postpartum period" strategies by the health facilities to reduce under-5 mortality in local and international contexts.

The prevalence of communicable diseases (also known as transmissible or infectious diseases) has been a significant health issue for sustainable development, hindering economic progress globally. Communicable diseases may affect economic development both directly (via the immediate effects of ill health on productive activities) and indirectly (through the effects of disease on intellectual capacity, mortality, morbidity, and fertility). This study examined the impact of communicable diseases on the economic growth of the SADC region between 2011 and 2024. The study utilised the two-step System-Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) to analyse the data. HIV prevalence and TB incidence served as proxies for communicable diseases, and GDP per capita served as a proxy for economic growth. The study took a comprehensive analytical approach by including variables such as current health expenditure and government expenditure on education as control variables. The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between HIV prevalence, TB incidence and economic growth of the SADC nations, and this is attributed to the fact that the economic growth of most SADC countries does not immediately translate to better healthcare access, as the poor often remain highly vulnerable. Current health expenditure and government expenditure on education negatively affected GDP per capita. This study therefore recommends harmonising the cross-border strategies, strengthening regional surveillance and integrating health into economic planning to ensure a productive workforce within the SADC region.