Dr Morné Oosthuizen

Deputy Director

Morné Oosthuizen is Chief Research Officer and Deputy Director of the DPRU. His research interests include the generational economy (National Transfer Accounts), poverty, inequality, and labour markets. He has worked on issues of intergenerational transfers and the demographic dividend in several countries in Southern Africa and helped coordinate the multi-country research project, Counting Women’s Work, which aims to value time spent in unpaid services and incorporate it into estimates of production and consumption over the lifecourse. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Cape Town, focussing on intergenerational resource flows, demographic dividends, and unpaid care across the lifecycle in South Africa using the National Transfer Accounts methodology. Morné previously held the INSETA-UCT Research Chair, instituted by the Insurance Sector Education Training Authority (INSETA) to address key policy-relevant research questions.

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Latest Research: 

Journal Articles

  1. Oosthuizen, M., forthcoming. Education and South Africa’s Waning Demographic Dividend. Journal of the Economics of Ageing.
  2. Mason, A., Lee, R., and Members of the NTA Network (including Oosthuizen, M.), 2022. Six ways population change will affect the global economy. Population and Development Review. DOI: 10.1111/padr.12469
  3. Bhorat, H., Oosthuizen, M., and Stanwix, B., 2021. Social Assistance Amidst the Covid-19 Epidemic in South Africa: A Policy Assessment. South African Journal of Economics 89(1): 63-81, March. DOI: 10.1111/saje.12277.
  4. Oosthuizen, M., (2015). Bonus or Mirage? South Africa’s Demographic Dividend. Journal of the Economics of Ageing 5:14-22. April. DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2014.08.007.
  5. Lee, R., Mason, A., and Members of the NTA Network (including Oosthuizen, M.) (2014). Is low fertility really a problem? Population ageing, dependency and consumption. Science 346(6206):229–234. DOI: 10.1126/science.1250542. 10 October 2014.

Book Chapters

  1. Bhorat, H., Lilenstein, K., Oosthuizen, M., and Thornton, A., 2023. South Africa: Employment and Inequality Trends. In: C. Gradín, P. Lewandowski, S. Schotte and K. Sen (ed.s), Tasks, Skills, and Institutions: The Changing Nature of Work and Inequality. Oxford University Press.
  2. Bhorat, H., Lilenstein, K., Oosthuizen, M., Steenkamp, F., and Thornton, A., 2022. Economic growth, rising inequality, and de-industrialization: South Africa’s Kuznetsian tension. In: A.S. Alisjahbana, K. Sen, A. Sumner, and A. Yusuf (ed.s), The Developer’s Dilemma. Oxford University Press.
  3. Bhorat, H., Oosthuizen, M., Kachingwe, N., and Yu, D. (forthcoming). Understanding Growth-Income Inequality Interactions in Zambia. Chapter 5. Routledge. [Book manuscript approved by publisher for publication.]
  4. Oosthuizen, M. (2022). The Economic Lifecycle and Africa’s Demographic Dividend: Evidence from National Transfer Accounts. In: C. Odimegwu and Y. Adewoyin (ed.), Routledge Handbook of African Demography, Chapter 34. Routledge, New York.
  5. Bhorat, H., Lilenstein, K., Oosthuizen, M., Steenkamp, F., and Thornton, A. (forthcoming). Structural Transformation, inequality, and inclusive growth in South Africa. In: K. Sen, A. Sumner and A. Yusuf (ed.s), The Developers Dilemma. Oxford University Press.

Working Papers and Other Papers

  1. Oosthuizen, M. and Martin, L., 2022. Lesotho’s Demographic Dividend in the Context of Health and Other Development Challenges. UNFPA-ESARO and UNFPA Lesotho Country Office.
  2. World Bank, 2021. South Africa Social Assistance Programs and Systems Review. Washington DC, World Bank Group.
  3. Oosthuizen, M., 2021. The Financial Behaviour of South Africa’s Social Assistance Beneficiaries. World Bank.
  4. Allen, C., Asmal, Z., Bhorat, H., Hill, R., Monnakgotla, J., Oosthuizen, M., and Rooney, C., 2021. ‘Employment creation potential, labor skills requirements and skill gaps for young people: A South African case study’. AGI Working Paper #26. January. Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings.
  5. Monnakgotla, J. and Oosthuizen, M., 2021. ‘Job Quality in South Africa: A Proposed Index for Ongoing Monitoring of Job Quality’. DPRU Working Paper 202103. March. Development Policy Research Unit, University of Cape Town.