Dieter von Fintel
Associate Professor
Dieter von Fintel is an associate professor in the Department of Economics at Stellenbosch, as well as a research affiliate of LEAP, RESEP and IZA. He is an applied micro-econometrician seeking to understand long-run and short-run effects of policies on development, labour markets and households in Africa, as well as spatial and generational persistence.
The Impact of Agricultural Minimum Wages on Worker Flows in South Africa
This paper is the first to estimate the impact of minimum wages on worker flows and employment growth rates in a developing country with scarce…
November 14, 2023 PDF
Separating Employment Effects into Job Destruction and Job Creation
This paper presents new evidence on the employment effects of a large increase in agricultural minimum wages in South Africa using anonymized tax data.
May 18, 2020 PDF
Wealth Inequality and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from South African Tax and Survey Records
Von Fintel, D. and Orthofer, A., 2020. Wealth inequality and financial inclusion: Evidence from South African tax and survey records. Economic Modelling.
May 18, 2020 PDF
Sectoral Minimum Wages in South Africa: Disemployment by Firm Size and Trade Exposure
Piek, M. and von Fintel, D., 2020. Sectoral minimum wages in South Africa: Disemployment by firm size and trade exposure. Development Southern Africa, 37(3), pp.462-482.
May 18, 2020 PDF
Examining the impact of WHO’s Focused Antenatal Care policy on early access, underutilisation and quality of antenatal care services in Malawi: a retrospective study
Mchenga, M., Burger, R. and von Fintel, D., 2019. Examining the impact of WHO’s Focused Antenatal Care policy on early access, underutilisation and quality of…
November 14, 2019 PDF
Sectoral minimum wages in South Africa: disemployment by firm size and trade exposure
This paper measures the impact of South African minimum wages on small and large firm employment in a sector that is exposed to international competition…
January 10, 2019 PDF
Bargaining to work: the effect of female autonomy on female labour supply
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP04/2018 Publication date: March 2018 Abstract: Female labour supply is an important outcome for measuring gender equality and is therefore…
July 19, 2018 PDF
Migration and gender in South Africa: following bright lights and the fortunes of others?
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP09/2017 Publication date: September 2017 Abstract: Internal migration in South Africa has a strong gender dimension. Historically, the apartheid-era migrant…
July 16, 2018 PDF
Institutional wage-setting, labour demand and labour supply: causal estimates from a South African pseudo-panel
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP07/2016 Abstract: Unemployment in South Africa has been attributed to multiple causes. Wages have grown faster than productivity to reduce…
July 4, 2018 PDF
Wage flexibility in a high unemployment regime: spatial heterogeneity and the size of local labour markets
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP09/2016 Abstract: Whereas some previous microeconometric evidence suggests that wage setters in South Africa are highly responsive to external local…
July 4, 2018 PDF
Long-run spatial inequality in South Africa: early settlement patterns and separate development
Von Fintel, D.P., 2018. Long-run spatial inequality in South Africa: early settlement patterns and separate development. Studies in Economics and Econometrics, 42(2), pp.81-102.
April 16, 2018 PDF
Earnings bracket obstacles in household surveys – How sharp are the tools in the shed?
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP08/2006 Abstract: Earnings functions form the basis of numerous labour market analyses. Non-response (particularly among higher earners) may, however, lead…
October 17, 2017 PDF
Determining the Causes of the Rising South African Unemployment Rate: An Age, Period and Generational Analysis
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP24/2009 Abstract: This paper takes advantage of the wealth of cross-sectional household surveys conducted after South Africa’s political transition, in…
October 17, 2017 PDF
Who Responds to Voluntary Cognitive Tests in Household Surveys? The Role of Labour Market Status, Respondent Confidence, Motivation and a Culture of Learning in South Africa
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP27/2010 Abstract: Both South Africa’s labour market and education system were directly influenced by the separate development policies of the…
October 17, 2017 PDF
The impact of the international economic crisis on child poverty in South Africa
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP13/2010 Abstract: This paper reports on a study to provide insights into the magnitude of the shocks associated with the…
October 17, 2017 PDF
Numeric competence, confidence and school quality in the South African wage function: towards understanding pre-labour market discrimination
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP12/2011 Abstract: Highly convex estimates of average returns to education commonly found in South Africa are usually rationalised as being…
October 16, 2017 PDF
The unintended consequences of education policies on South African participation and unemployment
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP11/2012 Abstract: In the late 1990s the South African Department of Education implemented two policies that were meant to reduce…
October 16, 2017 PDF
The role of educational attainment and quality schooling in reducing racial earnings inequality
Stellenbosch Policy Brief No. 04/2011 Abstract: The removal of racially biased labour market policies and regulations has been a logical move given the discriminatory nature…
October 16, 2017 PDF
Rising unemployment amongst South Africa’s new generation
Stellenbosch Policy Brief No. 04/2010 Abstract: The policy brief studies unemployment between 1995 and 2007. The analysis is unique because it uses a pooled version…
October 16, 2017 PDF
The extension of existing data and methods to measure poverty and mobility in data-poor, agrarian sub-Saharan Africa
Candidate: Thomas Ferreira Supervisor: Professor Servaas van der Berg Co-supervisor: Doctor Dieter von Fintel Institution: Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Department of Economics Abstract:…
July 17, 2017 PDF
Institutional wage-setting, labour demand and labour supply: causal estimates from a South African pseudo-panel
Abstract Unemployment in South Africa has multiple causes. This article uses a district pseudo-panel to estimate the elasticity of labour demand, labour supply and…
May 16, 2017 PDF
Migration and gender in South Africa: following bright lights and the fortunes of others
Abstract Internal migration in South Africa has a strong gender dimension. Historically, the apartheid‐era migrant labour system meant that predominantly black African men moved…
April 16, 2017 PDF
Errors in recalling childhood socio-economic status: the role of anchoring and household formation in South Africa
Abstract In the absence of longitudinal data that track individuals over an extended period of time, information on childhood socio-economic status can be provided…
April 15, 2016 PDF
A Retrospective Look at How Well a Macro‐Micro Model Can Analyze the Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on a Developing Country
Abstract This article is a follow-up to one that looked at the impact of the economic crisis on child poverty in South Africa using…
September 9, 2015 PDF
Slave prices and productivity at the Cape of Good Hope from 1700 to 1725: Did everyone win from the trade?
Abstract This paper analyses the economic viability of slavery in the Cape Colony in southern Africa. It has been extensively documented that the affluence…
April 15, 2015 PDF
The unintended consequences of education policies on South African participation and unemployment
Abstract In the late 1990s, the South African Department of Education implemented two policies that were meant to reduce the large number of over‐aged…
April 15, 2015 PDF
The Impact of the International Economic Crisis on Child Poverty in South Africa
Abstract This paper reports on a study to provide insights into the magnitude of the shocks associated with the recent global economic crisis in…
March 9, 2015 PDF
Spatial Heterogeneity, Generational Change and Childhood Socioeconomic Status: Microeconomic Solutions to South African Labour Market Questions
PhD Thesis Candidate: Dieter von Fintel Supervisor: Professor Servaas van der Berg Institution: Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Department of Economics Abstract Microeconometric techniques have…
October 16, 2014 PDF
Settler skills and colonial development: the Huguenot wine‐makers in eighteenth‐century Dutch South Africa
Abstract The institutional literature emphasizes local conditions in explaining divergent colonial development. We posit that this view can be enriched by an important supply‐side…
June 15, 2014 PDF
The Wealth of Cape Colony Widows: Inheritance Laws and Investment Responses Following Male Death in the 17th and 18th Centuries
Abstract Losing a household member is usually negatively associated with welfare, especially if that person is a breadwinner. Coping methods include disposal of assets…
May 15, 2013 PDF
Hunger in the former apartheid homelands: Determinants of converging food security 100 years after the 1913 Land Act
Abstract Just more than one hundred years after the implementation of the 1913 Land Act, the subject of land reform and rural development are…
March 15, 2013 PDF
Child Poverty in South Africa and the Global Financial and Economic Crisis
Book Summary Experts from the global North and South analyse the implications of economic crises on children, with a particular focus on the emerging evidence…
July 9, 2012 PDF
The Fruit of the Vine? An Augmented Endowments-Inequality Hypothesis and the Rise of an Elite in the Cape Colony
Abstract The arrival of European settlers at the Cape in 1652 marked the beginning of what would become an extremely unequal society. Comparative analysis reveals…
June 10, 2012 PDF
ʼn Ongelyke Oes: Die Franse Hugenote en die vroeë Kaapse wynbedryf
Abstract Although Van Riebeeck already produced the first wine at the Cape in 1659, the arrival of French Huguenots during 1688/89 gave considerable impetus…
May 10, 2011 PDF
A History with Evidence: Income inequality in the Dutch Cape Colony
Abstract The arrival of European settlers at the Cape in 1652 marked the beginning of what would seemingly become an extremely unequal society, with…
April 10, 2011 PDF
The dynamics of inequality in a newly settled, pre-industrial society: The case of the Cape Colony
Abstract One reason for the relatively poor development performance of many countries around the world today may be the high levels of inequality during…
April 10, 2010 PDF
Dealing With Earnings Bracket Responses In Household Surveys – How Sharp Are Midpoint Imputations?
Abstract Earnings functions form the basis of numerous labour market analyses. Non-response (particularly among higher earners) may, however, lead to the exclusion of a…
June 10, 2007 PDF
