With Mark Hallerberg from the Hertie School, I am completing a book, under contract with Princeton University Press, that examines the selection of economic policymakers and how it is related to government performance and policy. Our analysis is based on biographical data on the educational and professional backgrounds of 1500 policymakers. We have also interviewed about 70 former, and some current, senior officials from over two dozen countries, including heads of government, finance ministers, and central bank presidents.
With Dan de Kadt from the Department of Methodology at the LSE, I have been studying disenfranchisement in the Cape of Good Hope (now South Africa) under Prime Minister Cecil Rhodes. Based on a detailed analysis of all registered voters in 1903, we quantify racial disenfranchisement and examine the different tools. Our working paper is here. As part of this project, we digitized a century of South Africa’s historical census publications and education reports, now available as an open access resource via the LSE Library.
‘Do Ministers Matter for Audit Performance? Evidence from Cabinet Appointments During South Africa’s “State of Capture”’ [with Daniel Berliner and Martin Haus]. Draft available as an ODI Working Paper (January 2023).
Joachim Wehner 