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Office 3.22, SALDRU

School of Economics Building, Middle Campus

University of Cape Town

Rondebosch, 7701

South Africa

Tel: + 27 21 650 2726

Email: murray.leibbrandt[at]uct.ac.za

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ORCID ID 0000-0003-0829-8844

Murray Leibbrandt

Emeritus Professor

I am an Emeritus Professor and a Senior Research Scholar in the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) at the University of Cape Town. I served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Poverty and Inequality at UCT and was Director of SALDRU from 2002 until July 2023. Currently, I direct the African Centre of Excellence for Inequality Research under the African Universities Alliance. I am a Visiting Professor at Yale University and a Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER. I serve on the Council of the Academy of Science of South Africa and the Executive of the Network of African Academies of Science.  

I am a principal investigator of Health and Aging in Africa: Longitudinal Studies in South Africa. My research focuses on the use of survey data, particularly longitudinal studies, to explore poverty, inequality, and labour market dynamics in South Africa and across Africa.  I held the DSI/NRF National Research Chair for Poverty and Inequality Research from 2008 to 2022 and the UCT Research Chair in Poverty and Inequality Research from 2023 to 2025. I was a member of the Executive Committee of the International Economic Association from 2017 to 2023. I served as President of the African Econometric Society from 2006–2007 and the Economic Society of South Africa from 2007–2010.  I served as a founding principal investigator of South Africa’s National Income Dynamics Study from 2007–2019).

I have advised on key national policies, including labour market legislation, as part of President Mandela’s Labour Market Commission (1995–1996) the National Minimum Wage Panel for Deputy President Ramaphosa (2016–2017). In 2021, I was part of the Expert Group advising the Department of Social Development on Basic Income Support and served on the Ministerial Task Team reviewing student funding for the Department of Higher Education and Training in 2021/22.

I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the Free State in 2024 and was made an IEA Fellow by the International Economic Association in 2026.