Research
My research is mainly situated in the broad field of labour economics with a focus on the transition from school to work and on labour market discrimination. In addition, I have collaborated on research in the fields of education economics, health economics and soccer economics. Here you can find some output of this research.
Click here for a list of my publications in Web of Science journals and discussion articles. A summary of the main findings and download information is provided. The articles are marked with labels:
labels with respect to topics: discrimination hiring overeducation volunteering student work ethnicity unemployment;
labels with respect to methods used: fictitious job applications vignettes duration analysis dynamic discrete choice;
labels with respect to (sub)fields in economics to which they contribute: labour education health soccer (economics).
Click here for my register of (almost) all correspondence experiments on hiring discrimination since 2005.
With my research I consciously pursue both scientific and social impact. As far as this scientific impact is concerned, I want to publish research that will be read and quoted, thereby helping to shape tomorrow's knowledge. As far as social impact is concerned, with my research I particularly want to put Flanders and Belgium on the track of a more effective labour market policy, which can strengthen our social security and our general welfare. In order to achieve the latter, I invest in science communication and interpretation and I commit myself to policy-oriented study work. On this page I link to some resulting policy reports (in Dutch).
Normally, science communication follows published research. In this publication it went the other way around. First I used the metaphor of the iceberg on the labour market in media commentary in Flanders, to make clear that while the policy for years focussed on the activation of the unemployed, there was a much larger labour reserve of inactive people below the water line. When this metaphor caught on, I decided to base a theoretical framework on it. The article is now published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Economic Analysis and Policy. Or how social work can also inspire scholarly research...