Team

The people of LEAP

The LEAP team works in the Department of Economics at Stellenbosch University.

Researchers

  • Johan Fourie

    Johan Fourie

    Director and Professor of Economics

    The economic history of southern Africa, from Cape settler society to the twentieth century

    Website
  • Dieter von Fintel

    Dieter von Fintel

    Professor

    Labour, poverty and inequality; spatial and historical microeconometrics

    Website
  • Calumet Links

    Calumet Links

    Senior Lecturer

    Khoe economic history and the Cape frontier

    Website
  • Edward Kerby

    Edward Kerby

    Researcher

    Text-as-data and African financial history

    Website
  • Kate Ekama

    Kate Ekama

    Researcher

    Slavery and emancipation in the Indian Ocean world

    Website
  • Munashe Chideya

    Munashe Chideya

    Postdoctoral Fellow

    Joint-stock companies and government in the Cape Colony

    Website
  • Karl Bergemann

    Karl Bergemann

    Postdoctoral Fellow

    Runaway labour in the emancipation-era Cape

  • Noah MacDonald

    Noah MacDonald

    Postdoctoral Fellow

    Historical labour markets and between-group disparities

    Website
  • Etienne Le Rossignol

    Etienne Le Rossignol

    Postdoctoral Fellow

    Culture, persistence and development

    Website
  • Jan-Hendrik Pretorius

    Jan-Hendrik Pretorius

    PhD student

    Long-run wealth mobility and historical demography

    Website
  • Lauren Stevens-Harris

    Lauren Stevens-Harris

    PhD student

    Manumission in the Cape Colony

Extraordinary professor

Research affiliates

Governance

Governing Board

  • Ada Jansen

    Chair

    Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University

  • Sophia du Plessis

    Head, Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University

  • Janine Myburgh

    Chairperson, Pniël Museum and Heritage Site

  • Kanshukan Rajaratnam

    Chief Academic Director, School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, Stellenbosch University

  • Kris Inwood

    Professor of Economics and History, University of Guelph

  • Mohamed Saleh

    Associate Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics

  • Johan Fourie

    Director

    LEAP, Stellenbosch University

Alumni

PhD graduates

LEAP has graduated the following PhDs since 2016.

YearNameDissertationNow
2026Tim NgalandeGrowth, Productivity, Labour Misallocation, and the Paradox of Apartheid in 20th Century South AfricaFuqua School of Business, Duke University
2025Lisa-Cheree MartinLife after slavery: investigations into self-selection and social mobilityDepartment of Economics, Stellenbosch University
2024Karl BergemannThe runaways: a study of enslaved, apprenticed and indentured labour flight at the Cape in the emancipation era, 1830–42Department of History, Utrecht University
2024Munashe ChideyaPrivate joint-stock companies and government relations in the Cape Colony, 1892–1902Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University
2022Amy RommelspacherWork, wedlock and widows: comparing the lives of coloured and white women in Cape Town, 1900–1960DRC Archives, Stellenbosch
2021Farai NyikaEarly effects and legacies of Cape Colony legislation on black disenfranchisement, education and migrationSchool of Business, MANCOSA
2021Calumet LinksThe economic impact of the Khoe on the north-eastern frontier of the Cape ColonyDepartment of Economics, Stellenbosch University
2021Lloyd MaphosaA historical analysis of joint stock companies in the Cape Colony between 1892 and 1902Queen’s Business School, Queen’s University Belfast
2020Heinrich Nel
2018Abel GwaindepiState building in the colonial era: public revenue, expenditure and borrowing patterns in the Cape Colony, 1820–1910University of Copenhagen, Centre for African Studies
2017Christie SwanepoelThe private credit market of the Cape Colony, 1673–1834: wealth, property rights, and social networksDepartment of Economics, University of the Western Cape
2016Jeanne CilliersA demographic history of settler South AfricaProfessor of Economic History, Linköping University