Research

Under review

• Increasing the Effective Retirement Age: Key Factors and Interaction Effects,
  with Tilbe Atav and Egbert Jongen,
  R&R at the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy

  • Abstract
    We study the effects of the recent increase in the statutory retirement age (SRA) in the Netherlands, using RDD and rich administrative data on the universe of the Dutch population. We find large interaction effects with a preceding early retirement reform. The employment effect of the SRA reform is much larger for cohorts receiving less generous early retirement benefits. Indeed, the level of employment before the SRA, together with the retirement hazard at the SRA, is key to understanding the effects of retirement age reforms. Our results further point to a big role for automatic job termination in the Netherlands.
  • Submitted version

• Tax Evasion in the Netherlands: Evidence from Tax Amnesty Reforms,
  with Wouter Leenders, Arjan Lejour and Maarten van’t Riet,
  R&R at the Journal of Public Economics

  • Abstract
    Exploiting unique datasets covering over 29,000 tax evaders in the Netherlands, we investigate the distribution of tax evasion and its implications for the measurement of wealth inequality. Tax evasion is concentrated at the top of the wealth distribution, though less so than in earlier research. Consequently, the correction for offshore wealth has only a modest effect on top wealth shares. We describe a number of explanations to account for the distribution of tax evasion by Dutch households: low-cost tax evasion opportunities in neighbouring countries for the “merely rich”, sophisticated forms of tax evasion for, low effective tax rates on wealth for and migration to low tax jurisdictions by the “super rich”. All of these explanations show that the distribution of tax evasion strongly depends on a country’s geographical and institutional setting.
  • Submitted version

• The impact of import competition and export opportunities on the Dutch labour market,
  with Rob Euwals, Gerrit Hugo van Heuvelen, Gerdien Meijerink and Jan Mohlmann,
  R&R at De Economist

  • Abstract
    We study the impact of rising Chinese and Eastern European import competition and export opportunities between 2001 and 2016 on the Dutch labour market. Both the participation of China in the WTO and the extension of the European Union provide an opportunity to investigate the impact of an unanticipated increase in trade on 40 Dutch COROP regions. We do not find a robust impact of the increase in trade on local employment, wages and inequality. The results do not imply that trade does not have an impact on Dutch regions, but the effects might play out in a more complicated way. Results for the Netherlands as well as other countries can be explained by the initial composition of the employment share across industries and the labour institutions.
  • Link to the working paper ___

Working papers

• Labor Supply Effects of Survivor Insurance: Evidence From a Benefit Cut in the Netherlands,
  with Julie Treguier

  • Abstract
    This paper investigates the effects of survivors’ benefits (SB) on labor supply responses. We use rich administrative data on the universe of Dutch residents, and exploit the 1996 Dutch reform that considerably tightened eligibility rules to causally identify the labor supply effect of SB.We use a regression discontinuity approach, using the cohort-based implementation of the reform. We show that, following the tightening of SB eligibility, individual income and labor force participation after spousal death increase significantly (+23% and 16% respectively). We further decompose those effects and show that the widows who entered the labor market due to the reform mainly did so in the care sector, and that already working widows increased their number of working hours by 8%. We also find evidence of active substitution of widows toward disability insurance as a result of the reform. Finally, our heterogeneity results suggest that the magnitude of the response to the reform depends on widows’ ability to self-insure against the risk of spousal death.
  • Link to the working paper

• Inequality and Redistribution in the Netherlands,
  with Arjan Bruil, Celine van Essen, Wouter Leenders, Arjan Lejour and Jan Mohlmann

  • Abstract
    This paper combines detailed administrative records on the universe of the Dutch population with national account aggregates to provide a thorough description of income inequality before and after taxation and income and in-kind transfers in the Netherlands, for the year 2016. When accounting for domestic and foreign retained earnings, income inequality before transfers stands out, as the last percentile of the income distribution earns 12% of the national income and the last decile 35%. The tax and transfer system largely reduces income inequality: the top 10%’s income share falls to 28%. Inequality reduction is largely driven by benefits, that are targeted at the bottom of the distribution, and much less so by the tax system, which is rather flat overall and even largely regressive at the very top of the income distribution.
  • Link to the working paper

Early stage research

• Retirement behaviour in the French private sector,
  with Chloé Lallemand, Lamia Kandil and Maxime To

• Incentives and Labor Force Participation of Older Workers: Evidence from France,
  with Antoine Bozio, Maxime Tô and Julie Treguier

• The Social Determinants of Retirement,
  with Max Coveney and Arthur Seilbold

• Tax optimisation in closely held firms: evidence from a dividend tax holiday,
  with Gabriella Massenz