Publications

The current debate on fossil fuel subsidies focuses too little on the underlying core question: does the abolishment of such subsidies support the energy transition and hence climate policy? →

Recently, the government and the social partners in the Netherlands agreed on how to reform the scheme of occupational pensions in the coming years. In June 2019 they agreed on the main principles of reform, in June 2020 they elaborated these principles in more detail. →

Pension premium rates and pension benefits are independent of age or family situation in the second pillar of the Dutch pension system. In a life cycle model calibrated on Dutch data we investigate the optimal... →

As urbanization continues, congestion externalities are becoming more important due to an increasing utilization of the prevailing infrastructure. A growing number of cities have conducted transit-oriented developments... →

Infrastructure projects are increasingly aiming to improve liveability, in particular in urban areas. We analyse a specific case in which an existing highway in an urban area was moved underground in order to improve intercity traffic flows and to reduce traffic externalities. →

Flood prevention policy is of crucial importance to the Netherlands. We assess economical optimal flood prevention where multiple barrier dams and dikes protect the hinterland against sea level rise and peak river discharges. Current optimal flood prevention methods only consider dike rings with no dependencies between dikes. We propose a graph-based model for a cost-benefit analysis to determine optimal dike heights with multiple dependencies between dikes and barrier dams. →

The existence of an urban wage growth premium is a well-established empirical fact. This article challenges the conventional view that faster wage growth for urban workers is caused by human capital spillovers. →

This article argues that the spatial scope of agglomeration economies is much more complex than is often assumed in the agglomeration literature. We provide insight into this issue by analyzing panel data on individual wages with a high level of spatial detail. →

According to the Melitz (2003) model, potential exporters have to be sufficiently productive to overcome the entry costs of foreign markets. Once firms pass this productivity threshold, they all export. However, empirical evidence indicates that a substantial share of high-productive firms do not export. →

The Netherlands is a global reference for flood risk management. This reputation is based on a mix of world-class civil engineering projects and innovative concepts of water governance. For more than a century, cost-benefit analysis has been an important tool for both flood risk management as well as water governance in the Netherlands. It has helped to select the most effective and efficient flood risk projects and to coordinate and reconcile the interests of various policy areas, levels of government and private stakeholders. →