EUROPE

THE NETHERLANDS

University of Maastricht

Department of Economics and Business Administration
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance

:: Overview
:: Research
:: Practical information

 

Overview

The University of Maastricht, which was founded in 1976, is a rapidly growing university with about 2,000 staff and 9,000 students whose problem-based learning approach offers a unique kind of learning experience in Europe. The Department of Economics and Business Administration offers five graduate programs and two research master’s programs.

In September 2004, the University of Maastricht launched an ambitious new graduate school, the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MsoG). The Graduate School’s Academic Director is Professor Chris de Neubourg.

The goal of the Graduate School is to “educate professionals and researchers in policy analysis, risk assessment, policy design, policy monitoring, policy evaluation and methods and techniques of policy research” (MsoG’s website, August 2005). The Graduate School offers five master’s programs and two Ph.D. programs, including Ph.D. programs in Social Protection Policy and Economics and Policy Studies of Technical Change.

MSoG research specializes in

- Comparative welfare states
- Public policy on inequality and poverty
- Vulnerability and household behavior
- Intergenerational fairness in old age provisions
- Informal labor and incomes, and
- Unemployment

The Graduate School’s 60 faculty includes prominent scholars from the University of Maastricht as well as scholars from other European universities and research institutes.

(Source: Presentation on MSoG by Professor Chris de Neubourg at the Harvard Inequality Summer Institute, June 19, 2004, and the Graduate School’s website, August 2005).

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Research

Research areas at a glance

RESEARCH AREA
Comparative and domestic institutional evolution	Chris de Neubourg, Tannelie Blom, Piet Keizer, Chris Leonards, Christine Neuhold, Sophie Vanhoonacker, Hans Van Mierlo, Ellen Vos
Education	Andreis De Grip, Hans Hejke
Family structure
Historical evolution of inequality
Immigration
Labor market inequality	Chris de Neubourg, Gregorz Mazur, Joan Muysken, Maarten Vendrik
Political and civic participation	Hans van Mierlo
Racial/ethnic disparities and race relations
Urban poverty and spatial segregation	Anique Hommels, Geranda Notten

Faculty research at the Graduate School of Governance and the Department of Economics

De Neubourg, Chris
Research areas: taxation for pensions and public goods; performance indicators of welfare states; new social policy experiments in Europe; informal labor market & income distribution in Uzbekistan

Blom, Tannelie
Research areas: theory of governance; European governance; systems theory

De Grip, Andreis
Research areas: education and the labor market

Hejke, Hans
Research areas: education and the labor market

Herings, Jean Jacques
Research areas: economic theory; application of general equilibrium and cooperative game theory to financial markets; reconceptualization of theory of social situations; computational economics; time-inconsistent behavior

Hommels, Anique
Research areas: urban space and design; research focus on processes of socio-technical change and resistance to change; interdisciplinary work, combining perspectives from history, sociology and philosophy; empirical focus shifted to the information society, theoretical focus on socio-technical change remained the reliability and vulnerability of ICT networks

Keizer, Piet
Research areas: political support for the welfare state, especially support for the idea of redistribution; welfare state and inequality; philosophy behind sociology, economics and moral philosophy

Leonards, Chris
Research areas: cultural history of international congresses and conferences; forced migration issues; philanthropy and social policies; globalization and inequality

Mazur, Gregorz
Research area: income & happiness

Muysken, Joan
Research areas: labor economics and growth theory; comparative unemployment insurance; computers and wages; impact of health and education on economic growth

Neuhold, Christine
Research areas: decision making and institutions in the EU multi-level system of governance; questions of democratic legitimacy and treaty reform; EU policies

Notten, Geranda
Research areas: vulnerability to poverty; role of the state in moving people out of poverty; asset utilization and choices in markets

Vendrik, Maarten
Research areas: dynamics of female labor market participation, especially mothers with small children; psychological and sociological perspective of discrimination; effects of competition; happiness with income and labor inequality

Vanhoonacker, Sophie
Research area: European Union

Van Mierlo, Hans
Research areas: electoral competition and politics; public management reform and public entrepreneurship; public-private management; policy analysis and policy evaluation; fiscal economics; welfare economics and public choice; various policy fields: health economics and policy; environmental economics and policy, education economics and policy, infrastructure economics and policy

Vos, Ellen
Research areas: EU Law, institutional law (comitology and agencies), market integration and risk regulation (precautionary principle).

Library access

Inequality Fellows will be enrolled as temporary visitors. This enrollment status gives them access to the library, databases and other facilities.

 

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Practical information

Céline Duijsens-Rondagh, Student Affairs Officer at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, provided extensive information on practical questions that Inequality Fellows may face when in Maastricht. The following information includes excerpts from the much more detailed information Céline compiled:

Accommodation

Céline Duijsens-Rondagh at Celine.Duijsens@governance.unimaas.nl, phone: +31 43 3883732), is the key administrative contact for Inequality Fellows at the University of Maastricht.

Céline has graciously offered to help Inequality Fellows arrange for accommodation at the Hostel Randwijck or the International Guesthouse. Rooms range from 350 to 550 euros per month.

Health insurance

The U.S. Department of State provides extensive information on health insurance for Americans traveling abroad.

Office space and computer access

If Inequality Fellows stay in Maastricht for a longer period of time, the Inequality Program’s contacts in Maastricht will try their best to arrange for office space. All students can of course make use of the university’s extensive computer facilities at various locations at the university and the library.

Timing

The university is in session from September through July.

Transportation

A very convenient way to get around in Maastricht is by bus or by card. A bus ticket for 22 trips, including transfers, costs about 20 euros.
Netherlands Railways offers a discount card for about 50 euros, which provides a 40% discount on trips after 9 AM and during the weekend. For a list of low-cost airlines operating in Europe, visit http://www.discountairfares.com/lcosteur.htm .
To print out a location on a map, go to http://www.mappy.com./

Visa information

U.S. citizens staying in the Netherlands as tourists for less than 90 days do not need a visa to enter the country. However, they need to report to the police upon arrival. For the latest information on visas and residency permits, visit the websites of the U.S. Department of State, the Netherlands Consulate General in New York, and the website of the International Relations Office of the University of Maastricht.

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