Seán Mfundza Muller

Dr Sean Mfundza Muller is a Senior Research Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study. An economist by training, he holds three degrees from the University of Cape Town where he was a Woodrow Wilson Public Policy Partnership Fellow and one from the University of Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar. His work spans the spectrum from real-world policy to abstract theoretical analysis: from advising members of parliament on public finance issues and legislation, to methodological and...See more

Dr Sean Mfundza Muller is a Senior Research Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study. An economist by training, he holds three degrees from the University of Cape Town where he was a Woodrow Wilson Public Policy Partnership Fellow and one from the University of Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar. His work spans the spectrum from real-world policy to abstract theoretical analysis: from advising members of parliament on public finance issues and legislation, to methodological and philosophical critique of approaches to causal inference. His academic articles have been published in journals in economics, higher education, development and philosophy, and he is a regular contributor to the popular press on matters related to public policy. A crucial component of his work involves critical analysis of the methodological and philosophical basis for public policy claims and decisions. In this, his first book, he critically interrogates the dynamics of the academy itself and how prevalent approaches to institutional structure and incentives in higher education are likely to harm, rather than advance, scientific and societal progress. See less