Category: MAG

The Participation Act was introduced on the 1th of January 2015, in order to create a more inclusive labor market in The Netherlands. The actual execution of the Act is decentralized. Municipalities are responsible for encouraging firms to create labor opportunities for vulnerable groups. Municipalities adopt different mean and instruments to do so, consequently there…

Immigrants that relocate to the Netherlands with the purpose of starting employment that requires skills that are scarce in the Dutch labor force, benefit from a substantial reduction in income taxation. Such tax benefits have existed since the 50’s in the Netherlands, though the details have continuously changed. Currently, the rule implies that 30% of…

Small businesses are crucial to the economy: in the Netherlands, they provide over the third of value added and the half of employment. Yet, small firms often face difficulties obtaining bank loans, according to a leading explanation because they do not have sufficient collateral value. The policy implications of this explanation are large as many…

Educational mobility in the Netherlands has generally increased in the post-WWII period, but advancing equality of educational opportunity in poor urban areas remains a serious challenge. The National Program Rotterdam South is a major social policy program that aims to improve educational performances in this urban area. However, systematic research on whether children from disadvantaged…

Population health differs dramatically across neighbourhoods. Contextual determinants of health such as neighbourhood effects have become a focal point of research. However, the scientific community is still actively debating whether neighbourhood effects are causal (i.e. living in a certain neighbourhood causally affects one’s health) or merely the result of selection effects (i.e. healthier people moving…