Research
Van Veen’s core activities have been in the fields of mathematical economics, social accounting and general equilibrium modelling. He has vast experience in developing tools for national economic planning via construction of Social Accounting Matrices and Applied General Equilibrium models, gained in particular in projects for Bangladesh (1981-1985), Indonesia (1985-1989), Nigeria (1992-1997) and China (2002-2005 and 2007-2010). Policy issues analyzed with these models cover a variety of topics such as structural adjustment and food policy (Indonesia), sectoral development planning and income distribution (Nigeria) and agricultural trade, farm incomes, environmental pressure and regional land use patterns (China).
More recently, Van Veen participated in modelling projects on policy coherence for Ghana (2013-2014), water use in the Jordan River Basin (2014-2016) and the Water-Energy-Food nexus in Middle East agriculture (2019-2020). The Jordan River Basin project has resulted in a regional hydro-economic model of the basin to support the design of concerted water management policies. Based on this project, a full Master Course on transboundary water policies has been developed. The Water-Energy-Food nexus project has resulted in a farm model that describes in particular the impact of changing water availability on cropping patterns and the options for on-farm electricity generation. Currently, Van Veen participates in two follow-up applications focusing on, respectively, the future of maize production in China under changing climate conditions and the cropping prospects in the Tubas district in the Palestine territories.
