Curriculum Vitae

Published

26 November 2025

Address: School of Business & Economics, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands; Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Stellenbosch Central, Stellenbosch, 7602, South Africa
Get in touch:
LinkedIn • Substack • Website

Research Interests

Primary fields: Development Economics, Economics of Education, Economic History
Secondary fields: Spatial Econometrics, Political Economy, Land Policy

Current Position

Joint PhD Candidate in Economics (by coursework and dissertation)
Stellenbosch University & Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Tinbergen Institute)

2022 – Present

Education

MSc: Development Studies – Economics (Cum Laude) Wageningen University and Research, Netherlands Dissertation: “Invisible Borders – Persisting Scars: How the Apartheid Homelands Define Contemporary South Africa”	Sep 2019 – Sep 2021
Bachelor of Commerce: Honours in Economics University of Cape Town	Jan 2018 – Nov 2018
Bachelor of Social Science: Philosophy, Politics & Economics (with distinction in each major) University of Cape Town	Jan 2015 – Nov 2017

Grants & Awards

C. Lowell Harriss Dissertation Fellowship Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (Research on property valuation and taxation)	2025
Emergent Ventures Grant Mercatus Centre, George Mason University (Machine Learning Land Valuation in Cape Town)	2022
Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Scholarship Comprehensive doctoral funding	2022
Orange Knowledge Programme Fellow Fully funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for MSc studies in the Netherlands	2019 – 2021

Grant values available upon request

Research Experience

Consultant Usawa Agenda, a Gates Foundation Grantee	2024 – Present
Research Associate JPAL Africa, Shakuma Violence Prevention Programme (PI: Julian Jamison)	May 2022 – Dec 2022
Agricultural Economics Intern United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation	Sep 2020 – Aug 2021
Research Assistant University of Cape Town School of Economics	Jun 2020 – Oct 2020
Consultant Research Economist & Educational Video Script Writer Money & Macro	Aug 2021 – Aug 2022

Teaching Experience

Teaching Assistant Economics of Education (871), Stellenbosch University Designed & taught Stata-based assignments	Jul 2022 – Dec 2022
University Tutor Philosophy, Politics, & Economics, University of Cape Town	Jan 2018 – Nov 2018

Publications

Peer-reviewed Book Chapters

Mohohlwane, N., Mtsatse, N., & Courtney, P. (2023). Bridging the 20-year Literacy Divide: African Language Reading Progress in South Africa
In Tracking Changes in South African Reading Literacy Achievement: A Developing Context Perspective, Brill Publishers.
Spaull, N., Courtney, P., & Qvist, J. (2022). Mathematical Stunting in South Africa: An Analysis of Grade 5 Mathematics Outcomes in TIMSS 2015 and 2019
In Early Grade Mathematics in South Africa (Eds. Venkat, H. & Roberts, N.), Oxford University Press.

Working Papers & Reports

Courtney, P. (2025). Education and Growth – Some Ideas on How to Improve Results
Bureau for Economic Research.
Courtney, P. (2024). Education, Inclusive Growth, and Fiscal Consolidation
UNU-WIDER Working Paper. Download PDF
Donaldson, A. R., Guma, N., McKenna, L., van Reenen, N., Ryan, G., Courtney, P., & Janari, S. (2024). Inclusive Development in South Africa: Elements of a Structural Reform Strategy

Thesis

Courtney, P. (2021). Invisible Borders – Persisting Scars: How the Apartheid Homelands Define Contemporary South Africa
MSc Thesis, Wageningen University and Research.

Conferences & Workshops

Oxford Economics September Summer School, [University of Oxford, United Kingdom]
Treatment Effects: Beyond the Basics (Econometrics, Morning Sessions); Machine Learning (Econometrics, Afternoon Sessions)

2024

Third Annual UP-SU PhD Workshop in Economics, [Stellenbosch, South Africa]
Invisible Borders – Persisting Scars: How the Apartheid Homelands Define Contemporary South Africa

2023

Swedish Economic History Meeting, [Lund, Sweden]
Invisible Borders – Persisting Scars: How the Apartheid Homelands Define Contemporary South Africa

2022

Technical Skills

Programming: R (Advanced; preferred), Stata (Advanced), Python (Intermediate)
GIS: R (Advanced; preferred), QGIS (Advanced), ArcGIS Pro (Advanced)
Document Preparation: LaTeX (Advanced), Microsoft Office Suite (Advanced), Adobe Creative Cloud (Advanced)