This HERA cluster works on research questions at the intersection of health and labor economics. While health conditions may limit the ability to work, work may also reversely affect the health of individuals. These interrelationships are not only relevant for older workers that are facing increasing health problems, but also for younger individuals with chronic conditions or mental health problems. At the same time, there is a strong need for evaluations of benefit schemes and public health or labor market programs, that provide a broad perspective on potential welfare gains. One common question related to these evaluations relates to its targeting properties: do the policies reach out to individuals who are most in need?
The analysis of health and work outcomes, as well as analyses on the effectiveness of health and labor programs, calls for the use rigorous empirical methods to obtain causal effects. For this we use both survey and large-scale administrative data from Statistics Netherlands, the National Social Insurance Institute (UWV), ministries, municipalities and private insurance and intermediary companies. Our research also requires a deep understanding of the drivers of health conditions and employments, and how labor market and public health programs should be designed and implemented. We therefore have strong ties with key representatives in the field, for instance from UWV and the ministry of Social Affairs and Employment.
Our team teaches related courses at the bachelor's level (“Health Economics”, “Human Capital”), within the MSc Economics and Public Policy tracks (“Economics of the Welfare State”), and at the MPhil program of the Tinbergen Institute (“Health Economics”). The team is based at the economics department, and collaborates with economists and health scientists from AUMC, the university of Groningen, and Erasmus University.