Welcome to my website!
I am a Professor of Economics at the University of Antwerp, with affiliations at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam and the University of Bath. Previously, I also worked at the London School of Economics (LSE), Ortec Finance, and the CPB – Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. I am a Research Fellow at IZA – Institute of Labor Economics, Global Labor Organization (GLO), and Network for Studies on Pensions, Aging and Retirement (Netspar). I serve as the Secretary of the European Society of Population Economics (ESPE). I am the Vice-President of the Scientific Committee of the Applied Economics Conference (AEC), held biannually in Belgrade. I joined the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Population Economics (JOPE) and the International Journal of Finance and Economics (IJFE). I hold a Ph.D. in Economics and Econometrics from Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam.
My research interests lie in applied econometrics and labour economics, with a strong policy focus on crime, education, gender, discrimination, and pro-social behaviour. My work aims to generate insights that inform public policy and social interventions. Specifically, I examine the social returns to education in terms of crime and fertility, the determinants of gender pay and pension gaps, and the accessibility of early education for children from low SES backgrounds. I also investigate the impact of smartphone use on students’ academic performance, the role of volunteering in reducing labour market discrimination against women and immigrants, and the effects of major geopolitical events—such as Brexit, the NATO bombing of Serbia, or the war between Russia and Ukraine—on key societal outcomes like migration, health, and political preferences. To provide rigorous evidence for policymaking, I employ administrative, survey, and experimental data, using a robust ‘policy evaluation methods’ toolkit.
You can find a link to my personal website here.