Health outcomes are shaped by individual behavior, policies, social norms, institutions, and broader structural factors. Health disparities emerge early – before birth and in childhood – continuing through the reproductive and productive years into old age, often transferring across generations. Global challenges like pandemics, climate change, conflict, migration, and aging further strain resources, requiring data-driven, interdisciplinary solutions.
Our research is highly empirical, based on econometric analyses of administrative data, large-scale surveys, randomized controlled trials and behavioral experiments but also qualitative methods. We aim to identify causal links between behavior, interventions, and health outcomes and assess the impact, underlying mechanisms, cost-effectiveness, and targeting of health programs.
Key themes include mental health, sexual and reproductive health (including family planning, HIV/AIDS), health insurance and digital health. We focus on low- and middle-income countries where health systems are generally weaker, market failures more pronounced, and inequalities deeper. We generate evidence-based insights to improve health and inform effective and affordable policies worldwide.
We teach global health-related courses at the Bachelors-level (“Health Economics”), within the MSc Economics and Public Policy tracks (“Human Development”), as well as in the MPhil program of the Tinbergen Institute (“Development Economics”). We collaborate closely with the Amsterdam Institute of Global Health and Development (www.aighd.org), the Amsterdam University Medical Center, and many research partners in the Global South.