There has been an ongoing debate among researchers, policy-makers and development partners in low-income countries on whether and to what degree non-contributory social transfers should be targeted to the poor or paid out universally to every citizen or to all citizens in a particular category....

Recent studies in general are positive regarding the effectiveness of US counterinsurgency programs in Iraq. The right mix of coercion, ethnic strategy, and public goods provision, it is argued, makes Iraqis less likely to rebel against the US army and the Iraqi government, thus reducing...

Second generation immigrants starting businesses in non-traditional immigrant industries have inspired a new line of research on migrant entrepreneurship. New entrepreneurs are expected to profit from better economic prospects due to their relatively high levels of human capital and their better...

This paper examines ethnically differentiated preferences for neighbourhood ethnic composition among homeowners in the Netherlands. Borrowing from price hedonic theory, it tests a fully nonparametric empirical model of housing choice. We exploit rich neighbourhood-level administrative data...

How important is the integration of immigrants in society for labour market outcomes? In this paper we examine the effect of residential segregation in neighbourhoods on labour market outcomes, exploiting the random assignment of asylum seekers to neighbourhoods in the Netherlands. Using Dutch...

This paper looks at the factors that influence an entrepreneur's decision to stay or move out of a neighbourhood. In general, new and relatively small firms tend to have a strong connection to their local environment and hardly ever move across large distances. Aspects of the building (e.g....

Urban residential neighbourhoods, including migrant neighbourhoods, have become important incubation zones for small-scale businesses in recent years, and policy makers and academics alike are wondering which local factors affect this development. In this paper we analyse to what extent migrant...

In recent years, urban residential neighbourhoods in the Netherlands have become increasingly known to function as incubation zones for small-scale businesses. Despite this development, little is known about whether and how the local production environment in these neighbourhoods shapes firm...

Access to energy is fundamental to improving quality of life and is a key imperative for economic development" (Energy Poverty Action). This is particularly true in Central Asia where winters are harsh and long. Changes in energy prices affect the purchasing power of households, hitting the poor...

During the 1980s and 1990s "Active labour" market reforms opened up labour markets in Europe, making them more flexible without putting in jeopardy the essence of the social security protection model. Countries that went furthest in such "active labour" market reforms such as the UK, the...