Lans Bovenberg

Arij Lans Bovenberg (born June 15, 1958) is a Dutch economist, and Professor of Economics at the Tilburg University and Erasmus University, known mainly due to his contribution to the Dutch debate on population ageing, pension reforms and public finances. Lans Bovenberg was awarded the Spinoza Prize in 2003.

Lans Bovenberg
Born (1958-06-15) June 15, 1958
Oosterbeek, Netherlands
NationalityDutch
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley (Ph.D.)
Econometric Institute drs., MSc Econometrics and Operations Research
Known forPopulation aging
Environmental economics
Public finance
Life Course Saving Scheme
AwardsSpinoza Prize (2003)
Honorary Doctorate from University of Ghent (2008)
Scientific career
FieldsPublic Economics
InstitutionsNetspar
Tilburg University
Doctoral advisorLaura Tyson

Biography

Bovenberg was born and raised in Oosterbeek in the Netherlands. Between 1976 and 1981 he studied econometrics at the Erasmus University. Teun Kloek supervised his MSc thesis (doctoraalscriptie) From 1981 to 1984 he studied at the University of California, Berkeley. He obtained his PhD in economics there at the end of 1984 for the dissertation entitled Capital Accumulation and Capital Immobility: Q-theory in a Dynamic General Equilibrium Framework.[1]

After graduation he lived in the US, working at the International Monetary Fund. In 1990 he returned to the Netherlands and after a brief period at the Ministry of Economic Affairs he became a Professor of Economics at the Tilburg University and Erasmus University. Between 1995 and 1998 Bovenberg was deputy director at the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. Since April 2004 he has been scientific director of research institute Netspar, which he has founded.[2]

Bovenberg is an independent member of the Dutch government's Social-Economic Council's committee for Social-Economic Policy and Life-Course Policy. In 2003 he won the Spinoza prize,[3] which allowed him to start the Netspar research institute. Also thanks to these activities he was declared to be one of the 100 most influential Dutchmen by HP/De Tijd magazine in 2007.[4] In 2008 Bovenberg got an honorary doctorate by the University of Ghent, Belgium for his scientific contributions. In 2009 he was elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.[5] Bovenberg was elected member of Academia Europaea in 2010.[6]

Work

The early work of Bovenberg focussed on tax competition in open economies.[7] Later he contributed on optimal taxes and environmental economics.[8] Most recently he focussed on population ageing and pension economics.[9]

Population ageing and pension

In the area of population ageing and pension Bovenberg advocates more flexible employment contracts, which would allow employees to combine work with care duties and lifelong learning. To keep older workers in the labor force, he suggests to offer them more vacation and shorter working hours.[10]

He is the architect of the Dutch Life Course Saving Scheme, which allows workers to save parts of their income to finance longer period of leave.[11]

Labour Participation

In 2008 Bovenberg was a member of the Commission Labour Participation, led by P. Bakker.[12] The commission advised the Dutch government on how to increase labor force participation in the Netherlands to 80%.

Christian Democratic Appeal

Bovenberg believes that people have to be given incentives to make full use of their capacities and that people also have duties, not only rights. He argues that also disadvantaged social groups should be expected to participate to work. He is often considered to be a Christian Democratic Appeal ideologist, but he himself states that his view (partly) differs from those of the party in some areas. Together with other Dutch economists like Johan Graafland and Eric van Damme, he thinks about the connection between Christian thinking and economics.[13]

Personal

Lans Bovenberg is married and father of two children. He was originally a member of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. When he lived in the United States, he was touched by the faith and the practical living of evangelic Christians. When he returned to the Netherlands he became a Pentecostal.

He is a member of the charismatic Evangelic Church Jefta in Breda, which is a part of the Pentecostal denomination Rafael Nederland. Twice a year he preaches in his church.[14] He plans to study theology and become a part-time preacher around 2013.

References
  1. Bovenberg, Lans. "Education". Tilburg University. Archived from the original on 2008-05-29. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
  2. Bovenberg, Lans. "Professional Experience". Tilburg University. Archived from the original on 2008-05-29. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
  3. "NWO/Spinoza prizes". Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. Archived from the original on 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
  4. HP/De Tijd elects Bovenberg one of the 100 most influential Dutchmen
  5. "Lans Bovenberg". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  6. "Lans Bovenberg". Academia Europaea. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019.
  7. Bovenberg, A. Lans (December 1989). "The Effects of Capital Income Taxation on International Competitiveness and Trade Flows". American Economic Review. 79 (5): 1045–64. JSTOR 1831436.
  8. Bovenberg, A. Lans; De Mooij, Ruud A. (September 1994). "Environmental Levies and Distortionary Taxation". American Economic Review. 94 (4): 1085–1089. JSTOR 2118046. (with R. A. de Mooij).
  9. Bovenberg, A. L. (November 2003). "Financing Retirement in the European Union". International Tax and Public Finance. 10 (6): 713–734. doi:10.1023/A:1026390122672. S2CID 54676686.
  10. "Interview with Lans Bovenberg" (in Dutch). NRC Handelsblad. August 19, 2006. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
  11. Delsen, Lei; Jeroen Smits (31 May – 1 June 2007). "Ins and out of the Dutch Life Course savings scheme" (PDF). Seminar on the Life Risks, Life Course and Social Policy. Paris, France: Organisation for economic co-operation and development (Paper 3).
  12. http://www.naareentoekomstdiewerkt.nl/pers-materiaal/Press%20Release%20Commission%20Labour%20Participation.pdf%5B%5D Press release Commission Labour Participation
  13. "Christelijke Traditie en Neo-Klassieke Economie in Gesprek,"(Dialogue of Christian Tradition and Neo-Classical Economics) Economisch Statistische Berichten, Vol. 84, No. 4230, pp. 848-852, November 1999 (with Th. C.M.J. van de Klundert).
  14. One of Bovenberg's sermons
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