This paper surveys migration to and from the Netherlands since thesixteenth century with an emphasis on the post-war period. Existingstudies on the labour market performance of immigrants and ethnicminorities are considered and some new results from our recentresearch are presented.<P> See also...</p>

What drives stated preferences about the number of foreigners? Is it self-interest as stressed by the political economy of immigration? Does social interaction affect this preference or is the immigration preference completely in line with the preference for the aggregate population size? In...

This paper investigates the effectiveness of an intervention that was targeted at a specific group of Dutch Social Assistance (SA) recipients with debt problems. With a large share of the income gains of work resumption were transferred to the creditors, these individuals experienced a strong a...

This discussion paper resulted in an article in the <I>Journal of Development Economics</I> (2013). Volume 103, pages 43-51.<P> To raise school attendance, many programs in developing countries eliminate orreduce private contributions to education. This paper documents an unintendednegative effect of such...</p></i>

This paper examines the effect of a housing assistance program on school enrollment, child labor and poverty reduction among poor families in Ecuador. Administrative data is merged to a household panel to link the history of a voucher application with socioeconomic information. Two empirical...

This discussion paper led to a publication in <A href="http://www.springerlink.com/index/J107501580204223.pdf">'De Economist'</A>, 159(3), 323-360.<p>We investigate numerically how indexation of funded pensions for inflation can be differ-entiated across the various groups of fund participants. The pension arrangement is modelledafter the Dutch situation. While the...</p></a>

We exploit an age discontinuity in a Dutch disability insurance (DI) reform to identify the health impact of stricter eligibility criteria and reduced generosity. Women subject to the more stringent rule experience greater rates of hospitalization and mortality. A €1,000 reduction in annual...

Unemployment remains a major economic and social problem in many developedeconomies. Thispaper provides theoretical and empirical perspectives on the impact of labourmarket deregulation as a means of combatting unemployment and of enhancing competitivewage determination. The paper focusses...

The Commonwealth of Virginia abolished parole and reformed sentencing for all felony of-fenders committed on or after January 1, 1995. We examine the impact of this legislationon reported crime rates using different time series approaches. In particular, structuraltime series models are...

This discussion paper led to a publication in <A HREF="https://apps.webofknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=UA&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=1&SID=X2NBDLnsMJR3Goz6AkG&page=1&doc=7">'CESIFO ECONOMIC STUDIES'</A>, 2007, 53(1), 42-68.<P> After having been ignored for a long time by economists, happiness is becoming an object of serious research in 21st century economics. In Section 2 we sketch the present status of happiness economics....</p></a>