« Empirical Policy Evaluation in Health: University of Lausanne | Main | test »
December 16, 2010
PhD student position in Health Economics or Health Econometrics: University Rotterdam
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Application deadline: 16 December 2010
The Health Economics Research Group at the Erasmus School of Economics of the Erasmus University Rotterdam is looking for a PhD candidate for a research project on ‘The health returns to education: exploring the occupational linkage’. The position involves a four-year contract. The conditions of employment and salary are according to the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch universities.
Applicants are expected to pursue a PhD on ‘the health returns to education: exploring the occupational linkage’ (more info below) and to participate in the Health Economics seminars and the teaching program at the Bachelor or Master level. Applicants should have a (research) master or MPhil degree in Economics or Econometrics. Proficiency in English is a prerequisite and we are particularly looking for someone who has a solid background and strong interest in applied microeconometrics, economics or health economics.
Please send your application in English (including your CV with at least two names of references and copies of your grades (all in pdf)) before 16 December 2010 by email to bachanek [at] ese [dot] eur [dot] nl. Later applications can only be considered if the position is still available.
The position is funded for 4 years, starting May 1st 2011 the latest. The starting date is negotiable. In case of appointment, a 1.5 year trial period will be followed by a 2.5 year contract, conditional on a positive mid-term evaluation.
For questions, please contact: bachanek [at] ese [dot] eur [dot] nl
The research project ‘The health returns to education: exploring the occupational linkage’
The starting point of the research project is the observation that disparities in health and mortality by education are striking. Even in the Netherlands, life expectancy differences between university graduates and those with only primary school are 6 to 7 years. The difference in life expectancy in good health is as much as 16 to 19 years. This huge difference has been documented for many countries, and it has been established that education causally improves health, but much less is known about the reason why the higher educated are healthier and live longer. In order to decrease the health gap between higher and lower educated individuals, this knowledge is essential.
The idea of the PhD project is to examine the potential mechanisms driving the causal impact of schooling on health. It is hypothesized that much of the education effect on health operates through the labor force participation and occupational choice route. State-of-the-art methods in causal
effect identification (impact evaluation) will be used to identify the causal effect of education, through occupational choices on health and mortality.
This research project fits within two recently acquired research programs in research funding competitions. The first is a 3 year project on “Health, income, and health care across the life cycle” jointly coordinated by Prof. Eddy van Doorslaer and Prof. Maarten Lindeboom (Free University Amsterdam) http://www.netspar.nl/research/themes/2009/lifecycleii/. The second is a 5-year Program “From understanding to reducing health disparities: a model-based evaluation” jointly coordinated by dr. Titus Galama (RAND Corp), prof. dr. Arie Kapteyn (RAND Corp) and Eddy van Doorslaer). Investigation of causal mechanisms involved in the generation of socio-economic inequalities in health across the life cycle is an explicit goal of both projects.
The candidate will benefit from supervision and collaboration with the senior researchers of the Health Economics group of the Erasmus School of Economics. The PhD project may also entail collaboration with researchers from RAND Corporation (Santa Monica, United States), and the NETSPAR network.
Depending on the candidate’s background, additional PhD courses might be recommended.
Erasmus School of Economics: The Erasmus University Rotterdam has a history dating back to 1913. Its School of Economics http://www.eur.nl/ese/english/ ranks first in the Netherlands, has more than 5000 students, and its research institute - Tinbergen Institute http://www.tinbergen.nl - is one of Europe’s top graduate schools and research institutes in economics and finance. The health economics group http://www.eur.nl/ese/te/he of the Erasmus School of Economics is headed by prof. Eddy Van Doorslaer and closely collaborates with the institute of Health Policy and Management.
Job opening details
Type of position: PhD candidate
JEL classification: C, D, H, I, J
Date of appearance on: 25th November 2010
Contact details
Eddy Van Doorslaer
Erasmus University Rotterdam
bachanek [at] ese [dot] eur [dot] nl
