Professor Haroon Bhorat is professor of economics and director a the Director of the Development Policy Research Unit and Economics Department at the University of Cape town. His research interests cover labor economics, poverty, and income distribution and he has published more than 200 academic journal articles, book chapters, and working papers.

Haroon Bhorat is also a nonresident senior fellow in the Brookings Africa Growth Initiative and in September 2019, he was nominated to sit on the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), established by President Ramaphosa to generate new ideas for economic growth, job creation, and addressing poverty.

Bhorat has his doctorate in economics through Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a Cornell University research fellow.