Spatial, Transport and Environmental Economics

This specialization focuses on the economic dimension of regions, urban areas and real estate. Some examples of fundamental questions that we address: why and where do which types of people and firms increasingly want to cluster in space? Why do some cities thrive, while others struggle? What does economic theory teach us about policy challenges that metropolitan areas face, such as crime, segregation, traffic congestion and environmental pollution? How is the growth and decline of cities impacting the building stock? What are the consequences of spatial planning for a region's development potential? What are the costs and benefits of constructing ‘green’ buildings?

The master's programme equips the students with the state-of-the-art of academic insights to analyze these and related policy questions and provide them with an evidence-based foundation.

In the courses, we take a microeconomic perspective and use applied econometric techniques. Hence, this high-quality one-year programme offers students the theoretical knowledge and applied methodological skills to tackle complex problems at a high level of abstraction, while emphasizing the need to translate theoretical solutions into clear-cut evidence-based policy advice.

This master’s programme focuses on the economic dimensions of local, regional, and global environmental challenges, the use and depletion of natural resources, and the role of market-based policies to incentivize the adoption of environmentally friendly practices and technologies. These questions are important both for improving the sustainability of our current living standards and for fighting the devastating effects of climate change. The programme discusses how government and society can rise to the challenge of managing environmental quality, natural resources, and the energy transition effectively. 

Some examples of fundamental questions that we discuss are: What policies can best address pollution and other negative consequences of economic activities? What characterizes efficient exploitation of renewable resources (such as forestry and fishery) and non-renewable resources (such as fossil fuels and minerals), and how does this differ from a free-market outcome? How do environmental policies induce innovation, and what role do technology policies play in environmental regulation? How can climate policies avoid being undone by the unintended consequences of market responses like “carbon leakage”, the “rebound effect” or the “Green Paradox”?

The master's programme equips the students with the state-of-the-art of academic economic insights to analyse and answer such questions and provide them with an evidence-based foundation.

In the courses, we take a predominantly microeconomic perspective and apply state-of-the-art theory and econometric techniques. Hence, this high-quality one-year programme offers students the knowledge and practical skills to tackle complex problems at a high level of abstraction, while emphasizing the need to translate theoretical solutions and empirical evidence into clear-cut policy advice. You will learn techniques to measure the value of natural resources and the costs and benefits of pollution abatement, including analytical models as well as stated preference and ”revealed preference” methods. You will study the challenges of regulating greenhouse gas emissions, including issues of taxation, international trade, and the design of international environmental agreements such as the Paris Accord. You will learn to evaluate intertemporal tradeoffs in managing natural resources, carbon budgets, and technological change. The role of market-based incentives and behavior-based “nudges” in improving environmental and societal outcomes will also be discussed. Economic models will be substantiated by teaching the latest empirical findings in economic literature.

On average, households in the Netherlands spend no less than about 30% of their income on real estate. Also, the prices of commercial properties are sky-high. Real estate prices heavily fluctuate, over both time and space. Prices in Amsterdam are, for example, many multiples above real estate prices in more peripheral areas.

How do real estate markets function? This is the main theme that the Real Estate specialization addresses.  More specifically, how does price determination work in these markets, and how are portfolios managed? What is the impact of land use regulation, transport infrastructure, and public policy on real estate price dynamics? What is the relationship between real estate and its location? In the Real Estate specialization, you acquire the theoretical and empirical knowledge to answer all these questions.

This specialization trains you to become a real estate professional, for which there is high demand in the industry. The specialization is embedded in the master Spatial, Transport & Environmental Economics. In this master, students develop the skills to analyse large (spatial) datasets. Although real estate markets have become global, there are major differences between local real estate markets.  A thorough understanding of real estate dynamics, therefore, requires an integrative view from both a financial, economic and spatial perspective. The interrelationship of the Real Estate specialization with the Urban & Regional Economics and/or Transport economics specialization offers you this unique possibility.