One million euros for research on social security
Researchers from the Department of Economics - Kees Goudswaard, Koen Caminada, Marike Knoef, Pierre Koning and Olaf van Vliet - have been awarded a grant of one million euros by Instituut Gak to investigate self-sufficiency and social protection.
People are increasingly being confronted with risks for which they have to take responsibility themselves. Retirement income is under pressure, employment relationships are becoming increasingly flexible and employment and disability benefits are being cut back. As a result, people are having to arrange more things themselves while facing increasing uncertainty. The research will look at how self-sufficient people actually are when it comes to work, saving and pensions and what this means for social protection. An analysis will also be carried out as to what extent social security can soften the blow of big drops in income and inequality, from both a national and international comparative perspective.
The research is linked to the endowed chair of Kees Goudswaard at Instituut Gak which has a duration of 6 years. There is a clear link with the project to the area of pensions, for which the research group earlier this year had already received a grant of half a million euros from Netspar, the main institute in the field of pensions and the aging population.
