Dieter von Fintel

About

Labour, inequality and child health, from the Cape Colony to the present

I am a Professor in the Department of Economics at Stellenbosch University, where I have taught since 2007, and currently serve as Vice Dean for Research, Postgraduate Affairs and Internationalisation in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. My research applies quasi-experimental and non-linear econometric methods to South African and Southern African labour markets, wealth and income inequality, and the drivers of child stunting and early childhood development.

I completed my PhD at Stellenbosch in 2014, with a spell as a visiting student at the Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford, on a Commonwealth Scholarship. I am a founding member of the Laboratory for the Economics of Africa's Past (LEAP) and a long-standing researcher with Research on Socioeconomic Policy (ReSEP), both at Stellenbosch. I hold a C2 rating from South Africa's National Research Foundation.

Alongside my own research, I supervise doctoral and Masters students, convene several econometrics and labour economics modules, and engage with policymakers and the media on minimum wages, inequality and food security.

19Years lecturing at Stellenbosch, since 2007
39Peer-reviewed journal articles
19Doctoral students supervised, graduated and current
C2NRF rating as an established researcher

Research

Current and recent projects

A selection of the collaborations and grants that anchor my current work — from a centuries-spanning historical household panel to present-day nutrition and labour-market policy.

2021 – 2026 · Co-investigator

The Cape of Good Hope Panel

Building the largest longitudinal household dataset in history to study social change at the Cape, with Lund, Utrecht, MIT, Colorado, UC Davis and Stellenbosch colleagues. Funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, Sweden.

2026 – · Global Perspectives on Tax Data

Wealth inequality and financial inclusion

Advancing wealth-inequality research using tax administrative data, with the Munich International Stone Centre for Inequality Research, building on earlier work on South African tax and survey records.

2024 – · Public Square, Stellenbosch

Child stunting and food systems

"Break free, grow tall, reach far" — a trans-disciplinary focus on stunting reduction through resilient and nourishing food systems, alongside long-run collaborative work on child health, parental death and early childhood development.

2019 – 2021 · Principal Investigator

Malawi's Farm Input Subsidy Programme

The unintended consequences of farm input subsidies for women and children in Malawi, with IDRC, DFID, the Hewlett Foundation and PEP, and collaborators in France, the UK and Malawi.

Ongoing · with M. Piek & J. Kirsten

Agricultural minimum wages

Using South African administrative tax records to trace how sectoral minimum wages reshape farm structure, worker flows and producer responses.

Economic history · with J. Fourie & others

Inequality at the Cape Colony

Settler wealth, slave prices, income mobility and the Huguenot wine-making elite — a long-run quantitative history of inequality in southern Africa built from tax and probate records.

Publications

Selected journal articles

39 peer-reviewed articles in total. The list below covers 2020 onward, in full — see the CV or Google Scholar for the complete record back to 2007.

Full list on Google Scholar

2026

01
From deliberate sample to representative sample: pilot study for the BER inflation expectations survey
Reid, M., von Fintel, D., & Foresto, A.
Journal of Business Cycle Research, 22(1), 157–186
02
Food production as insurance against maize price volatility: nutritional implications for children in Tanzania
Mkupete, M., von Fintel, D., & Burger, R.
Global Food Security, 48, 100909
03
The decline of child stunting in 122 countries: a systematic review of child growth studies since the 19th century
Schneider, E., Echeverri, J., Purcell, M., et al., incl. von Fintel, D.
BMJ Global Health, 11(2), e018607

2025

04
Inequality in public health spending and access to healthcare services in Zimbabwe: a cross-sectional study
Chari, A., von Fintel, D., & Burger, R.
Health Science Reports, 8(12)
05
Implementation matters: programme impact pathway analysis of four sectoral nutrition-sensitive interventions in Anambra and Kebbi states, Nigeria
Ezekannagha, O., Drimie, S., von Fintel, D., Maziya-Dixon, B., & Mbhenyane, X.
Global Health Action, 18(1), 2519677
06
Parental death, parental absence and stunting
Leach, G., & von Fintel, D.
Development Southern Africa, 42(6), 791–810
07
Malaria prophylaxis stock-outs and birth- and maternal outcomes in Zimbabwe
Chari, A., Burger, R., & von Fintel, D.
BMC Public Health, 25(1)
08
Supporting early childhood development through multi-dimensional service delivery in South Africa
Leach, G., & von Fintel, D.
Child Indicators Research, 18(3), 1101–1159
09
Income mobility before industrialization: evidence from South Africa's Cape Colony
Fourie, J., Green, E., Rijpma, A., & von Fintel, D.
Social Science History, 49(1), 22–51

2024

10
Waar is beter dorp in Zuid Afrika dan Stellenbos?: what the Stellenbosch-Drakenstein tax censuses reveal
Fourie, J., Green, E., Burger, C., et al., incl. von Fintel, D.
South African Historical Journal, 76(4), 420–446
11
A qualitative exploratory study of the political commitment for nutrition programming: Anambra and Kebbi states, Nigeria
Ezekannagha, O., Drimie, S., von Fintel, D., Maziya-Dixon, B., & Mbhenyane, X.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(2), 175
12
Childhood circumstances, social mobility and the obesity transition: evidence from South Africa
Rich, K., & von Fintel, D.
Economics & Human Biology, 52, 101336

2023

13
The impact of agricultural minimum wages on worker flows in South Africa
Piek, M., von Fintel, D., & Kirsten, J.
South African Journal of Economics, 91(4), 446–465
14
Can women's reports in client exit interviews be used to measure and track progress of antenatal care services quality? Evidence from a facility assessment census in Malawi
Mchenga, M., Burger, R., & von Fintel, D.
PLOS ONE, 18(7), e0274650

2022

15
Investigating the effects of drought and lockdowns on smallholder and commercial agricultural production in KwaZulu-Natal using remotely sensed data
Manfouo, N., & von Fintel, D.
Heliyon, 8(11), e11637
16
Decomposing inequality of opportunity in child health in Tanzania: the role of access to water and sanitation
Mkupete, M., von Fintel, D., & Burger, R.
Health Economics, 31(11), 2465–2480
17
Child nutrition and farm input subsidies: the complementary role of early healthcare and nutrition programs in Malawi
Mwale, M., Smith, A., & von Fintel, D.
Food Policy, 113, 102340
18
Stunting, double orphanhood and unequal access to public services in democratic South Africa
Bridgman, G., & von Fintel, D.
Economics & Human Biology, 44, 101076

2020

19
Validation of a roadmap for mainstreaming nutrition-sensitive interventions at state level in Nigeria
Ezekannagha, O., Drimie, S., von Fintel, D., Maziya-Dixon, B., & Mbhenyane, X.
Nutrition Journal, 19(1), 96
20
Wealth inequality and financial inclusion: evidence from South African tax and survey records
von Fintel, D., & Orthofer, A.
Economic Modelling, 91, 568–578
21
Sectoral minimum wages in South Africa: disemployment by firm size and trade exposure
Piek, M., & von Fintel, D.
Development Southern Africa, 37(3), 462–482

Selected earlier work (2007–2019): "The great divergence in South Africa: population and wealth dynamics over two centuries" (Journal of Comparative Economics, 2019, with J. Fourie) — winner of the 2021 Montias Prize. "Intergenerational transfer of health inequalities" (BMJ Global Health, 2019, with L. Richter). "Slave prices and productivity at the Cape of Good Hope, 1700–1725" (Cliometrica, 2015). "Settler skills and colonial development: the Huguenot winemakers in eighteenth-century Dutch South Africa" (The Economic History Review, 2014). Full details, and 18 further articles, are in the CV.

Book chapters

The effectiveness of affirmative action policies in South Africa. Burger, R., Jafta, R., & von Fintel, D. (2022). In Handbook on Economics of Discrimination and Affirmative Action, pp. 1–22.
Affirmative action policies and the evolution of post-apartheid South Africa's racial wage gap. Burger, R., Jafta, R., & von Fintel, D. (2016).
The fruit of the vine? An augmented endowments-inequality hypothesis and the rise of an elite in the Cape Colony. Fourie, J., & von Fintel, D. (2012). In The Role of Elites in Economic Development, pp. 87–119.
Child poverty in South Africa and the global financial and economic crisis. Mabugu, R., van der Berg, S., Shepherd, D., et al., incl. von Fintel, D. (2012). In Children in Crisis, pp. 93–120.

Teaching

Courses and supervision

I convene the department's core econometrics sequence and specialise in quasi-experimental and non-linear methods at Honours and Masters level.

Masters · 2016, 2020–2026

Advanced Cross Section Econometrics

Quasi-experimental and non-linear models, and survey design, for 5–12 Masters specialisation students a year.

Honours · module convenor, most years since 2008

Econometrics 771

An Honours-level introduction to cross-section econometrics, taught to 40–60 students a year.

Honours & Masters · 2013–2023

Labour Economics 771 & 871

South African labour-market policy topics, for 15–25 students, module convenor in 2021.

Masters · 2008–2011, 2016–2017, 2020

Advanced Development 871

A Masters-level development economics specialisation for small cohorts of 5–10 students.

Honours · module convenor, most years 2008–2020

Mathematical Methods 771

Calculus and optimisation for Honours economics students, 40–60 students a year.

PhD short course · 2019, 2024–2025

Quasi-experimental Econometrics

A three-day intensive for PhD students in the Graduate School of Economic and Management Sciences.

Doctoral supervision

14 PhD students graduated since 2016, and 5 currently in progress. Selected recent completions:

Year	Student	Thesis
2025	Valentine Madzudzo	Spatial labour market inequality: a comparative analysis of Cape Town, eThekwini, and Gauteng
2025	Marlies Piek	Farm dynamics, sectoral structure and agricultural minimum wages: evidence from South African administrative tax records
2024	Grace Leach	Essays on the economics of early childhood development: spatial inequalities, service provision, and parental investment
2023	Abigail Chari	Access to healthcare services in resource-constrained environments: evidence from Zimbabwe (co-supervisor)
2023	Kate Rich	Socioeconomic status, economic insecurity and the obesity transition in South Africa
2022	Martin Mwale	The impact of farm input subsidies on women and children: evidence from Malawi
2022	Mkupete Jaah	Examining child health and nutrition inequalities in Tanzania

Current: Michael Kilumelume, Tankiso Lefeta, Steven Mwaseba, Mwimba Chewe and Camren McAravey.

Service & engagement

Leadership, review and public research

University & academy

2024 –Vice Dean for Research, Postgraduate Affairs and Internationalisation, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences
2024 –Chair, Faculty Higher Degrees and Research Committee, and Internationalisation Working Group
2022 – 2025PhD Co-ordinator, Department of Economics
2024 –Standing Committee on Science for Reduction of Poverty and Inequality, Academy of Science of South Africa
2024 –Economics Panel, NRF Specialist Committee for Researcher Ratings

Policy & media

2018–2021World Food Programme: food security trends, monitoring and scenario planning for the southern African regional bureau
2019Department of Social Development & NIDS: cash transfers, financial literacy and child growth
2017Quoted in the New York Times on South African wealth inequality
2020Research on South Africa's Great Divergence cited in The Economist's Christmas Special Edition
2016–2022Guest essays for The Conversation, Mail & Guardian and Business Day on minimum wages and inequality

I review for the Journal of Human Resources, World Development, the Journal of Economic History, Economic Modelling, BMJ Global Health and more than a dozen other journals, and examine Masters and PhD theses at Cape Town, Witwatersrand, North-West, Fort Hare and the Western Cape.