Olaf van Vliet appointed as Professor of Comparative Welfare State Analysis
As of 1 June 2018 Olaf van Vliet has been appointed as Professor of Comparative Welfare State Analysis at Leiden University. The Endowed Chair in Comparative Welfare State Analysis is supported by Instituut Gak. This chair is embedded in both the Department of Economics (Leiden Law School) and the Institute of Public Administration (Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs), both for 0,1 fte. This expresses the intensive cooperation between the two institutions, which can be further strengthened with this appointment.
Social and labour market policy
The new Chair in Comparative Welfare State Analysis enables Van Vliet to further develop international comparative research on changes in social and labour market policy. Economic and societal trends as globalisation, migration, technological progress and ageing of the population create complicated dilemmas with regard to welfare state arrangements. Using international comparative analysis, Van Vliet’s research agenda is aimed at providing insight into the different types of welfare state reforms which are established under different political-economic conditions. The policy agenda of the European Union may also be a significant factor in this respect. Another important factor is the impact of the growing (labour) migration on national labour markets and social policies.
Background Olaf van Vliet
Prof. dr. Olaf Van Vliet studied public administration at Leiden University and economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Since he obtained his PhD from Leiden University he has been working at the Department of Economics of this university, until now as associate professor. Van Vliet has received several research grants, both national and international, and he has published in leading international journals. He is an internationally authoritative scholar in the field of comparative welfare state economics. He has been visiting scholar at among others Harvard University and Marquette University. Van Vliet holds several administrative positions, among which member of the Research Board of Leiden Law School, director of the research profile area Interactions between Legal Systems and coordinator of the MSc program Economics and Governance in The Hague.