This paper provides evidence for a correlation between social trust and people’s preference for government ownership of businesses and industries using regression analysis. The model of analysis is...Show moreThis paper provides evidence for a correlation between social trust and people’s preference for government ownership of businesses and industries using regression analysis. The model of analysis is built using theoretical elements previously presented in the already existing literature. In large part, this study looks at Elinor Ostrom’s Theory of Collective Action as a reference (1998). After analysis of the results, the conclusion is that this correlation operates through a lack of incentivisation for free riding, enabled by the social elements of reputation, reciprocity and trust. These conclusions ought to be taken into account together with the literature which studies the relationship between social capital and calls for redistribution.Show less
This thesis contributes to the political debates on creating more certainty for self-employed individuals in the Netherlands. Policymakers often consider them to be a homogeneous group, though many...Show moreThis thesis contributes to the political debates on creating more certainty for self-employed individuals in the Netherlands. Policymakers often consider them to be a homogeneous group, though many argue this is not the case. There are many different self-employment types, various reasons for an individual to become self-employed, and even within the various self- employment types, heterogeneity exists. For self-employed individuals, smoothing consumption in a way the life cycle hypothesis suggests is more difficult as they face more income insecurity, are more vulnerable and as a group they cannot speak with one voice. Within-group variation in income and wealth of employed and self-employed workers is analysed based on data of the LISS Data Panel. That way, checked is whether or not self- employed workers in the Netherlands are heterogeneous. The hypotheses are tested through data analysis (means, standard deviation, histograms and boxplots), through regressions and quantile regressions. The latter gives more in-depth information on dispersion than a basic (OLS) regression. The data analysis shows more variation in income and wealth for self- employed workers than for employed workers. The regressions confirm heterogeneity in income and wealth. In particular, the quantile regressions show a lot of variation in income and wealth depending on whether or not one is self-employed. The effect of the (self-) employment variable varies in the quantiles. It (except in the investment regressions) shift from positive to negative, indicating variation in line with the expectations of the literature. The heterogeneity of self-employed workers shows that a single uniform policy might be a disadvantage to some while being unnecessary for others. Therefore, tailor-made policies should be an option taken into account when creating policy.Show less
This study discusses the effect of changes in retirement policy on expected retirement behavior of individual people. Using the panel dataset LISS from 2011 to 2019 in a fixed effect regression...Show moreThis study discusses the effect of changes in retirement policy on expected retirement behavior of individual people. Using the panel dataset LISS from 2011 to 2019 in a fixed effect regression model, we see a highly statistically significant positive effect of a change in statutory retirement age on the expected retirement age. For people between 45 and 61 years old, their expected retirement age increases when the statutory retirement age is increased. Looking for heterogenous effect in different subgroups, the effect remains similar, indicating a robust result. Next to a change in the statutory retirement age, having a partner also influences the expected retirement age. Taking into account these factors, if the government wants to increase her financial sustainability, an increase in the statutory retirement age will lead to a decrease in the old-age dependency ratio, and thus achieving the expected resultShow less
The use of active labour market policies (ALMPs) is a common approach in Europe to reintegrate the unemployed back into the labour market. But the effectiveness of these ALMPs is unestablished, as...Show moreThe use of active labour market policies (ALMPs) is a common approach in Europe to reintegrate the unemployed back into the labour market. But the effectiveness of these ALMPs is unestablished, as previous research contributes either failure or success to factors such as strategy, implementation, and continuity. An additional factor is the presence of non-Western migrants, as non-Western migrants are believed to have a greater distance to the labour market, which affects their performance on the labour market. In the Netherlands, municipalities are responsible for their own ALMP strategy. This thesis aims to find the relationship between enrolment in ALMPs and outflow of the social assistance benefit to work, for both the general population and specifically for non-Western migrants, per municipality. A fixed-effects regression for the years 2015 to 2017 in the Netherlands, that controls for unobservable differences between municipalities, show that increased enrolment in ALMPs has no significant effect on the outflow to work. An interaction effect between share of non-Western migrants in a municipality and the enrolment in ALMPs also has no significant effect on the outflow to work. This means that the effectiveness of ALMPs is weak and inelastic, both for the general population and non-Western migrants. Small changes in the short term per municipality in either the number of residents, the fraction of the social assistance benefit recipients that are enrolled in an ALMP, and the share of non-Western migrants, do not impact outflow to work.Show less
Using the Studentenmonitor database I estimate the inequality of opportunity in the Dutch higher educational sector. Due to the extensiveness of this database I am able to separate the circumstance...Show moreUsing the Studentenmonitor database I estimate the inequality of opportunity in the Dutch higher educational sector. Due to the extensiveness of this database I am able to separate the circumstance effects from the effort effects. I find that a student’s circumstances matter for their educational achievements. It matters mainly for the average exam score of a student, but also for the probability that a student encounters study delay. However, the amount of effort that a student puts in his education also matters for his educational achievements.Show less
