Johan van der Walt

Graduate Student Fellow

Johan van der Walt, a South African native, received his undergraduate education at The University of Texas at Austin with majors in government, history, and plan I liberal arts honors. At Texas he wrote his undergraduate thesis on comparative institutional arrangements while serving as a Junior and Rappoport/King fellow. He is the co-founder of the University of Texas for Rural Enhancement through Education and Design, an international development student group.

After graduation Johan joined the Mercatus Center as a program associate for the Enterprise Africa initiative where he co-authored several papers on economic development, with particular focus on international aid and South Africa. This past summer Johan was able to build on his research with Enterprise Africa while working as an analyst and field researcher in South Africa. Johan’s current research interest as a master’s fellow include institutional analysis, comparative political economy, and international development.

PUBLISHED RESEARCH

Review of Austrian Economics

Book Review of Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa

Johan van der Walt | Nov 16, 2009

Dambisa Moyo’s new book, Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa, has received a great deal of attention in the last few months. Moyo’s book is a must-read for any person interested in the question of why some countries are rich while others remain stagnant or poor.

Mercatus Policy Series

South Africa: Increasing Opportunities for the Poor

Johan van der Walt, Karol Boudreaux | Apr 01, 2009

In this Country Brief, Enterprise Africa! lead researcher Karol Boudreaux and program associate Johan van der Walt focus on three domestic policy issues that they believe are important to expanding opportunities for South Africa’s poor: employment, education, and security. In addition, they also focus on three foreign policy issues that they believe are significant to leveraging South Africa’s unique position in international affairs: regional integration, good governance, and public and cultural diplomacy.

WORKING PAPERS

Entrepreneurship and the Varieties of Capitalism

Johan van der Walt | Feb 18, 2010

This paper contributes to the Varieties of Capitalism paradigm by arguing that the absence of an analytical framework that accounts for the differences between firms warrants some more consideration. It argues that variation in firms can be explained as a function of the diverse modes of action chosen by entrepreneurs through the acquisition, combination, and recombination of resources in the economy to exploit profit opportunities.

Reducing Barriers to Entrepreneurship: Caveats on a Promising International Development Strategy

Paul Dragos Aligica, Johan van der Walt | Jan 2010

The constant effort to find a solution to global poverty has gone through many stages. Due to the disappointment with the results, new solutions and approaches have been sought continuously. The latest trend is defined by major switch of focus from the formal to the informal sector, from grand programs to local and administrative level approaches meant to improve the environment for entrepreneurs and small businesses. However, one will observe that this rhetorical escalation is not unique to this strategy and is part of a larger phenomenon in a field where new ideas that are offered as 'The Solution' come and go, often making a negligible impact.

POLICY BRIEFS

Competition and Education Reform

Eileen Norcross, Johan van der Walt, Jerrod Anderson | Feb 01, 2010

Examining the interplay between federal funding and state charter schools, focusing on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and how competition in education could reform financing and outcomes.

South Africa Election: Policy Recommendations for a New Government

Johan van der Walt, Karol Boudreaux | Mar 2009

As South Africa faces a new round of parliamentary elections in April 2009, the country confronts a host of difficult political challenges. This Mercatus on Policy provides recommendations for any new government on how to address some of the domestic and international challenges.

MEDIA CLIPPINGS

Business Day

ANC must split

Johan van der Walt | Oct 17, 2008

Like Ken Owen, I am not fearful that SA is on a path to violence and destruction with recent challenges to African National Congress (ANC) hegemony (ANC must split, Letters, October 15). Rather, a split within the ANC would be a win for democracy, both for SA and for the African…