Economics

Within the department of Economics at the VU University Amsterdam, there are two groups: Economics and Development Economics. These two groups interact and collaborate in both research and teaching but focus on different geographic areas. Whereas Development Economics mainly focuses on issues in developing and transition countries, Economics has a strong focus on developed countries.

The department of Economics is a dynamic, young and international group of researchers with an outstanding reputation in applied econom(etr)ics.

It aims at top-quality scientific analysis of microdata in order to enhance our understanding of the behaviour of economic agents and markets, and to make policy evaluations with maximum carefulness. The empirical analyses go hand-in-hand with methodological innovations, and the analyses are grounded in modern economic theories.

Four themes dominate our current research:

• Labour Economics
  Research that seeks to bridge the gap between micro- and macroeconomic approaches in order to gain a better understanding of the working of the labour market.
• Innovative Activity and Productivity Growth
  Research into the interaction between innovative activity undertaken by micro-level agents and the institutional and market environment that aims to uncover sources of productivity growth.
• Economics of Health, Work and Aging
  Research focusing on issues where labour economics and health economics interact, such as retirement, consumption and wealth; the dynamic interrelation between health, work and income; health, health inequality and socioeconomic status; and the effect of macroeconomic conditions on mortality.
• International Trade
  Research to acquire knowledge on the driving forces for value creation in trade and for location decisions, from the perspective of heterogeneous firms facing transportation and transaction costs.

The department is actively involved in the Tinbergen Institute, one of Europe's top graduate schools and research institutes in Economics, Econometrics and Finance.

In the QANU research assessment 2009, conducted by a team of international experts, our group was awarded the excellent score of 19.5/20. From their report:
'The group is consistently highly ranked in international comparisons. It delivers high quality work addressing practical policy relevant economic problems of great importance to society using cutting edge econometric techniques.'