Haroon Bhorat is Professor of Economics and Director of the Development Policy Research Unit at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He holds an NRF B2 rating, and with a total citation estimate* of over 8600 and an h-index* of 53, he is one of the most cited South African economists globally. Prof. Bhorat is an advisor to the President of South Africa – Cyril Ramaphosa – serving since 2019 on his Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC). He was recently re-appointed to the 7th Administration’s PEAC, established to generate new ideas for economic growth, job creation and addressing poverty in South Africa. Prof. Bhorat holds the DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Economic Growth, Poverty and Inequality Research. He is a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution; a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labour in Bonn (IZA); and a member of the UCT College of Fellows. He has his PhD in Economics through Stellenbosch University, studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was a Cornell University research fellow.
Prof. Bhorat sits on the editorial advisory board of the World Bank Economic Review and Development Southern Africa. He is a regular reviewer for journals such as World Development, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, the Journal of African Economies and the Journal of Development Studies. He is a Board Member of the National Research Foundation (NRF) and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). He previously sat on the Board of the UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), and also on the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Board.
Serving in a variety of public roles ranging from high-level advisory work for government departments and multi-lateral institutions, to giving public lectures and seminar presentations at the world’s leading universities (including for example Columbia, Cornell, Yale and Oxford), Prof. Bhorat’s ability to seamlessly switch between conducting hard empirical analysis and providing evidence-based policy advice that is accessible to a broader audience, has had a direct impact on the discipline. His research feeds into policy decisions and pronouncements at the highest level, including Cabinet memoranda, State of the Nation Addresses and legislative promulgation. His work has been hugely influential in policy making in respect of poverty, inequality and labour market issues in South Africa.
He consults with international organizations such as the ILO, the UNDP, the World Bank, Ratings Agencies and emerging market fund managers. He is currently a member of the Steering Committee of the International Economic Association (IEA). He sat on the Advisory Board of the UNDP’s 2019, 2020 and 2024 Human Development Reports, and was a member of the World Bank’s Advisory Board of the Commission on Global Poverty, as well as a member of the Program Committee of the 2017 International Economic Association (IEA) World Congress. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the joint United Nations and World Bank Policy Study on the role of Development in the Prevention of Violent Conflict. He also sits on the UN/WHO’s High Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth. He previously served as a member of the UN Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor (LEP), and was Head of Research for the UN’s High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
Prof. Bhorat has undertaken extensive work for several South African government departments – most notably the South African Department of Labour, the Presidency and the National Treasury – including an appointment as Advisor on the South African Parliament’s High-Level Panel on Acceleration of Change and Transformation. He served as an economic advisor to two past Ministers of Finance including Min. Pravin Gordhan, and previous Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe, formally serving on the Presidential Economic Advisory Panel.
Prof. Bhorat’s commitments at UCT include lecturing Advanced Labour Economics (Hons), and supervising Honours, Masters and PhD students.
This page was updated in December 2024.
