Senior Research Officer

 

Expertise: Applied Economics, Labour Economics, Economic & Social History​

Ben obtained a Masters degree in Applied Economics from the University of Cape Town. He also holds a Masters degree in Economic and Social History from the University of Oxford. His research interests include: Labour Economics, Economic & Social History. He has spent time working in India with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) and joined the DPRU in October 2012 as a researcher. He has also tutored Economic History. 

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Latest Research & published papers:

  1. An Empirical Assessment of the National Minimum Wage in South Africa (with Haroon Bhorat & Ravi Kanbur). In: “State of the Nation: Ethics and Politics of South Africa’s Struggle Against Poverty and Inequality”; Eds: Bohler-Muller, N., Soudien, C. and Reddy, V. HSRC Press. February 2021. Chapter 7, pp. 154-72.
  2. COVID-19 and the labour market: Estimating the effects of South Africa’s national lockdown (with Haroon Bhorat, Tim Köhler and Rob Hill); Wits School of Governance - SA Future Economy Working Paper. 26 April 2021.
  3. Social Assistance Amidst the Covid‐19 Epidemic in South Africa: A Policy Assessment (with Haroon Bhorat and Morne Oosthuizen). South African Journal of Economics 89: 63-81. First published: 04 January 2021.
  4. Measuring Multi‐Dimensional Labour Law Violation with an Application to South Africa (with Haroon Bhorat, Ravi Kanbur & Any Thornton). British Journal of Industrial Relations. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12580 (First view Dec 2020)
  5. Compliance with labor laws in developing countries (with Haroon Bhorat & Ravi Kanbur), IZA World of Labor, 2019, pages 1-80.
  6. Minimum wages in Sub-Saharan Africa: a primer (with Haroon Bhorat and Ravi Kanbur), The World Bank Research Observer, 2017, 32.1: 21-74.
  7. Resource dependence and inequality in Africa: Impacts, consequences and potential solutions (with Haroon Bhorat, Grieve Chelwa & Karmen Naidoo). In “Income Inequality Trends in sub-Saharan Africa: Divergence, Determinants and Consequences”, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 2017, p.129-152.
  8. Minimum Wages and Youth: The Case of South Africa (with Haroon Bhorat, Aalia Cassim, Ravi Kanbur & Derek Yu), Journal of African Economies, 2016, 25.suppl_1: i61-i102.
  9. The Paradox of Effective Labor Regulation (with Lucas Ronconi and Mercedes Sidders), DPRU Working Paper, 2016, 201605, University of Cape Town.
  10. Investigating the Feasibility of a National Minimum Wage for South Africa (with Bhorat, H., Caetano, T., Jourdan, B., Kanbur, R., Rooney, C., and Woolard, I.), DPRU Working Paper, 2016, WP201601.