Publications


March 17, 2022

Addressing Unemployment Rate Forecast Errors in Relation to the Business Cycle

In this paper we show that the prediction errors for unemployment vary over the business cycle. We initially use a macroeconomic data for the United States, because these data are available for a longer period than for...

June 24, 2021

The Child Penalty in the Netherlands and its Determinants

We find that while child care availability is correlated with lower child penalty, the immediate short-term causal effect of increasing child care availability on the earnings penalty of becoming a mother is small. By taking advantage of variation in gender norms in different population groups, we show that gender norms are strongly correlated with child penalty for mothers.

A family in the Netherlands
December 17, 2019

The effects of the increase in the retirement age in the Netherlands

The increase in the statutory retirement age reduced the number of pensioners. About one third of this drop results in additional employment. Net savings for the government are about 80% of direct savings on retirement...

June 26, 2019

Non-Bunching at Kinks and Notches in Cash Transfers

We typically do not find statistically signicant evidence of bunching around kinks or notches, neither in income nor in wealth.

Figure 5b
February 15, 2018

Optimal Taxation of Secondary Earners in the Netherlands: Has Equity Lost Ground?

The Netherlands witnessed major reforms in the taxation of (potential) secondary earners over the past decade. Using the inverse-optimal method of optimal taxation we recover the implicit social welfare weights of single- and dual-earner couples over time. The social welfare weights are grosso modo well-behaved before the reforms.

November 22, 2017

Cheaper and More Haircuts After VAT Cut? Evidence From the Netherlands

We study the effect of the reduction in the VAT rate on services by hairdressers from 17.5 to 6 percent in the Netherlands in January 2000.

October 11, 2017

Preventing NEETs During the Great Recession: The Effects of a Mandatory Activation Program for Young Welfare Recipients

We study the impact of a mandatory activation program for young welfare recipients in the Netherlands. Introduced at the end of 2009, the goal of the program was to prevent so-called NEETs (individuals not in employment, education or training).

September 27, 2017

Optimal Income Support for Lone Parents in the Netherlands: Are We There Yet?

The Netherlands witnessed major reforms in income support for lone parents over the past decade. The goals of these reforms were to improve the financial incentives to work and to simplify the system. We consider whether the new system can be considered (closer to) `optimal'.

June 13, 2017

Using Tax Deductions to Promote Lifelong Learning: Real and Shifting Responses

Policymakers are concerned about potential underinvestment in lifelong learning. In this paper we study to what extent a tax deduction helps to stimulate post-initial training.

October 26, 2016

The elasticity of taxable income in the Netherlands

We study the elasticity of taxable labour income in the Netherlands. We use a large and rich data set, including both financial and demographic variables,for the period 1999-2005.