Public, Health, Labor, Demographic Economics

• Sponsor: ARES
• IRES promoter: Sandy Tubeuf
• Start date:  2022
• End date: 2026

Project description

Benin is committed to provide universal health coverage (UHC) through the development of health insurance targeting the poor and the informal sector, as part of the Assurance pour le Renforcement du Capital Humain (ARCH) project. The ARCH health insurance was piloted in three health zones as of July 2019, and is currently being expanded to other regions. The overall objectives of this project are to contribute to the UHC and to the improvement of social protection policy in health in Benin, and to contribute to the visibility of ARCH's successes in order to build advocacy towards technical and financial partners for a concerted and coordinated aid intervention in the sector. Four research questions will be investigated: Q1. How is the health insurance component of the ARCH implemented and reappropriated locally? Q2. What are the effects of the implementation of the health insurance component of the ARCH on equity in access to care? Q3. How can the institutional sustainability of the health insurance component of the ARCH be guaranteed? Q4. How to ensure the financial sustainability of the health insurance component of the ARCH? These questions are addressed with a multidisciplinary approach combining legal, economic, public health and socio-anthropological sciences, in the spirit of health policy and systems research. 

• Sponsor: joint PhD under the Global partnership UCLouvain-KULeuven
• IRES promoter: Jean-François Maystadt

Project description

The proposed project seeks to quantify the effectiveness of the recent Global Magnitsky Act sanction regime imposed by the US and then, the EU and the UK on the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) in China in September 2020.

• Sponsor: FSR
• IRES Promoter: William Parienté
• Start date: 2022
• End date: 2024

Project description

The main limitation of many empirical studies is the lack of generalization of their results beyond the context studied. The objective of this research project is to develop new methods based on Bayesian hierarchical models to improve the external validity of empirical analyses. It will build on individual micro-data from a large number of experimental evaluations in development economics and apply and develop Bayesian meta-analysis methods to measure treatment effect heterogeneity and predicts impacts to other contexts. Similar application to labor economics results will also be considered. 

• Sponsor: ERC - Horizon 2020
• IRES promoter: David de la Croix
• Start date: September 2021
• End date: 2026

Project description

The aim is to determine the role of elite knowledge and upper-tail human capital (UTHC) in triggering the rise of the West. we propose to build a database of a large sample of academic scholars in Europe over the period 1000CE-1800CE. Sources will be primary (published cartularia and matricula), secondary (books on the history of universities & academies), and tertiary (biographical dictionaries). To measure the quality of scholars, these data will be matched with the existing catalogues of publications.

Second, we will build a geographical grid of the density, composition, and quality of the UTHC across time, and correlate the UTHC at the cell level with the adoption of new techniques and better institutions, and the development of literacy, numeracy, and urbanization. The individual character of the data will allow basing causal identification on exogenous variations in the European network of both individuals and universities. The migration pattern of scholars will be used to identify sorting and agglomeration forces, witnessing to the functioning of an academic market in the medieval and early modern periods. Families of scholars will be identified to assess the importance of nepotism vs human capital transmission.

Third, we will develop a new theory of the complementarity between sciences and techniques, to determine the incentives under which codified knowledge and practical skills interact, and ideas spread. A second new theoretical model will be devoted to revealing the dynamic interactions between conservative and modern forces within universities and learned societies; the key trade-off here is between vested interests and new paradigms, letting scholarly elites develop a culture of growth. With the data gathered, we will be able to measure the importance of these theoretical mechanisms and how the UTHC and society interact.

Overall, we intend to rethink economic growth by unravelling the rich interactions between scholars & literati and its emergence.

• Sponsor: FSR
• IRES Promoter: Sandy Tubeuf
• Start date: 2021
• End date: 2023

Project description

This project funds a doctoral research fellow (Alexia Bigorne). This project investigates the importance of gendered returns of risky lifestyles on health and premature mortality and measure their importance for inequalities of opportunities in health.

• Sponsor: BELSPO-Brain 2.0
• IRES promoter: Muriel Dejemeppe
• Start date: March 2021
• En date: 2025

Project description

This research studies the impact of the Belgian short-time work (STW) compensation scheme (knownas “temporary unemployment” in Belgium) on economic and psychological outcomes in the short and longer term. STW is a policy instrument installed at the federal levelto avoid the costly process of separation and re-hiring during the temporary reduction in production and demand and may thereby also avoid the bankruptcy of firms. From the employees’ perspective it avoids the social cost of unemployment and reintegration into the labour market. STW has had particular resonance during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the peak of the lockdown in April 2020, as many as 1.167 million people -about 30% of eligible employees -benefited from a Corona version of STW for at least one day. As highlighted in the Call for proposal, it is of high policy relevance to investigate the short-and medium term consequencesof STW on the labour market given the substantial public expenditure implications. Future reforms of the policyneed to build on sound scientific evidenceof the factors for success of STW arrangements as responseto cyclical fluctuations.Before completing, please read carefully the Information File Call 2020-2021, the Submission and Evaluation Guidelinesand the Budget rules.Do not forget to use the Gender Checklistto take into accountall the gender aspects throughout the proposal.BRAIN-BE 2.0 -Call for proposals 2020-20212/42The proposal will mobilize two disciplines(economics and psychology). We will look at similar research questions, yet from a different angle, with the focus in psychological research being how STW is appraised rather than intended or implemented. The research will imply cooperationbetween research partners of different communities and universities in Belgium. The team is well balanced in terms of gender and expertise. The economists Bart Cockx (UGent) and Muriel Dejemeppe (UCLouvain) are renown experts in the field of the evaluation of labour market policies. The psychologists Nele De Cuyper and Hans De Witte (KULeuven) and Florence Stinglhamber (UCLouvain) are renown experts in different disciplines of work and organisational psychology, including occupational health psychology, personnel psychology and career research. Beyond mobilizing two scientific disciplines to analyse the efficiency of STW arrangements, the project will address some specific research questions through a mixed methods study. In particular, to investigate the effect of the Corona STW scheme on the career prospects of the targeted employees from a broad perspective, both micro-econometric evaluation methods using register files and longitudinal cross-lagged surveys will be implemented. Their results will be thoroughly compared and discussed.

More info on this project

• Sponsor: Nartional Bank of Belgium
• IRES Promoter: Muriel Dejemeppe
• Start date: 2023
• End date: 2025

Project description

Economists have contributed important theoretical and empirical findings to the study of the effect of Short-Time Work (STW) policies, but a study of the effect of STW taxes remains undone. Like in other insurance schemes, governments have introduced experience-rated (ER) copayments to financially disincentivize such unintended use of STW. In the first part of the research, we propose to estimate the causal effect of ER on various behavioral reactions of firms and workers based on ‘reduced form’ econometric models. The behavioral reactions of interest are the extent to which firms reduce the time allocation of workers to STW (a benefit of ER), but also the extent to which they might increase lay-offs, and decrease their performance (costs of ER). In the second part, we propose to develop a theoretical model that can capture the essential trade-offs of introducing such ER. This is a necessary step for obtaining more insights into the efficiency of the current ER scheme and directions for improvement. To make policy recommendations based on this theoretical model as concrete as possible, we will calibrate it using the estimation results of the first part. 

• Sponsor: FRS-CDR
• IRES Promoter: Sandy Tubeuf
• Start date: January 2024
• End date: December 2027

Project description

Health and environment are closely related. Scientists credit environmental factors for increased incidences of health problems and deterioration of well-being, mental health and premature deaths. While the healthcare sector cares for all patients including those whose poorer health is due to environmental causes, this sector is also responsible for substantial environmental pollution. Healthcare provision generates greenhouse gas, fine particles, plastic and pharmaceutical or chemical waste leading to air, water, and soil pollution. Major action is needed to ensure sustainable health and develop new environmental-friendly care models. In this context, it is critical to understand the willingness of the population to change the way they will receive care in the future. The proposed project aims to investigate public preferences toward environmentally- responsible healthcare choices. Using participatory methods and literature review, we will design a choice experiment survey that will allow us to identify the trade-offs individuals would be willing to make when choosing between hypothetical treatment options. Our experimental setting will allow us to identify which sociodemographic variables, attitudinal and behavioral characteristics influence individual preferences for healthcare treatments. Furthermore, despite the global agenda worldwide with increased interest for sustainable healthcare, the commitments to sustainable low carbon health systems differ across countries. We will therefore run our experiment in representative samples of the population across three countries namely Belgium, France, and The Netherlands, and investigate whether the population engage differently from one country to the other. Overall, our project is expected to provide rich policy relevant insights into the willingness of the population to account for environment-related dimensions in healthcare and needed evidence to foster the consideration of health-related environmental impacts.  

• Sponsor: ARES
• IRES promoter: Sandy Tubeuf
• Start date: 2022
• End date: 2026

Project description

Benin is committed to provide universal health coverage (UHC) through the development of health insurance targeting the poor and the informal sector, as part of the Assurance pour le Renforcement du Capital Humain (ARCH) project. The ARCH health insurance was piloted in three health zones as of July 2019, and is currently being expanded to other regions. The overall objectives of this project are to contribute to the UHC and to the improvement of social protection policy in health in Benin, and to contribute to the visibility of ARCH's successes in order to build advocacy towards technical and financial partners for a concerted and coordinated aid intervention in the sector. Four research questions will be investigated: Q1. How is the health insurance component of the ARCH implemented and reappropriated locally? Q2. What are the effects of the implementation of the health insurance component of the ARCH on equity in access to care? Q3. How can the institutional sustainability of the health insurance component of the ARCH be guaranteed? Q4. How to ensure the financial sustainability of the health insurance component of the ARCH? These questions are addressed with a multidisciplinary approach combining legal, economic, public health and socio-anthropological sciences, in the spirit of health policy and systems research.  

Sponsor: FNRS - PDR
Promoter: David de la Croix

Project description

Human capital and knowledge appear pivotal for economic and social progress. However, despite numerous theoretical and empirical studies on the determinants of European economic growth, the role of educational institutions in the Rise of the West is still debated. Knowledge is produced in institutions such as universities and scientific academies. Universities were merely the first educational institutions to be established in Medieval and Early Modern Europe; academies and learned societies followed in the 1650s. With their innovative curricula and institutional structures, these new organizations fostered the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. The birth of academies also sparked deep exchanges of ideas and the building of extensive networks among both institutions and scholars, which further enhanced the spread of high-quality knowledge. This project claims the importance of the interactions between universities and academies to capture the effective significance of high-quality knowledge in long-run European economic growth. To reach these objectives, the research will follow two stages. Firstly, I focus on the interaction between universities and academies, as captured by the set of scholars active in both. Secondly, I delineate the interpersonal networks that existed among institutions and individuals and depict the relevance of these links in the understanding of the Rise of the West. With an empirical approach, my research will contribute to a field of literature still mostly theoretical and will clarify the role of high-quality human capital in European economic history.

Sponsor: INNOVIRIS
Promoter: Vincent Vandenberghe and C. Romainville

Project description

This project analyses the long-term past and future evolution of the socio-economic profile of the Brussels Region (de facto the city core of a larger metropolitan region encompassing the two Brabant regions) both in terms of inhabitants or firms, in the context of gradual transformation of Belgium into decentralized state, with in particular the emergence at it center of the autonomous capital-city region of Brussels. The project assesses the relationship between the Brussels’ region’s relative socio economic profile and its fiscal position considering current and possible future versions of the special financing law i.e., the key legislation within Belgium federal institutional setting determining the public financing of Belgium’s regions and Communities. The project combines migration and urban economics as well as fiscal federalism considerations. It exploits several Belgian and European microdata sources to assess Brussels’ socio-economic evolution in terms of relative income, educational attainment or employment, business attractiveness.... To assess the fiscal position of the Brussels region under different socio-economic and institutional scenarios, the project uses the current but also recalibrated versions, of the SAFIRE model (Simulation and Analysis of the Financing of the Regions) developed by A. Decoster and W. Sas.

Sponsor: FSR
Promoter: Sandy Tubeuf
Start date: 2025
End date: 2029

Project description

This project funds a doctoral research fellow (Lisa Albert). This project investigates the importance of the time related burden and lost opportunities of receiving care for cancer patients.

Sponsor: NBB
Promoters: Vincent Vandenberghe, G. Minne
Start date: 
End date: 

Project description

In response to demographic changes and their impact on growth potential and public finances, Belgium has increased the legal retirement age and tightened the conditions for early retirement. These reforms have contributed to an increase in the employment rate of 55–64-year-olds, from under 25% in the late 1990s to nearly 57% in 2022. However, despite this progress, the employment rate of older workers remains low compared to neighbouring countries, and the gap between the legal and effective retirement age is among the highest in the OECD. 

This research project aims to explore the potential for increasing employment among older workers in Belgium, in line with the federal government's goal of reaching an 80% overall employment rate by 2030. It seeks to go beyond existing analyses focused on individual factors (such as health, gender, family constraints, or pension systems) by examining the role of labour demand—especially from employers—and the broader labour market conditions for workers aged 50 and above. The project will use microdata from employees (via BCSS) and companies (via the National Bank of Belgium) to track career trajectories over the decade before retirement. A key focus will be the role of job changes after age 50 as a potential lever to extend working lives. The analysis will be structured around two complementary research axes centred on the influence of employers and labour market dynamics on late-career pathways.