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BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

Name: van Soest, D.P.

Nationality: Dutch

Marital status : Married, two children

WORKING EXPERIENCE

September 2013 – : Professor of Environmental Economics (full time);

January 2009 – August 2013: Professor of Environmental Economics, Department of Spatial Economics and IVM, VU University Amsterdam (part time, 0.6 fte);

June 2006 – August 2013: (Associate) Professor, Tilburg University (part time, 0.4 fte; Full Professor since January 1, 2013);

July 1998 – May 2006: Assistant Professor, Tilburg University (tenured since January 1, 2004);

September 2002 – June 2003: Senior researcher, Telos – Brabant Center for Sustainability Studies, Tilburg (part time, 0.2 fte);

October 1997 – June 1998: Economic Advisor to the General Secretary of ATIBT (Association Technique Internationale des Bois Tropicaux), Paris.

EDUCATION

1993–1997: Ph.D and MPhil: Groningen University and Netherlands Network of Economics (NAKE, the Netherlands); Ph.D. received on January 29, 1998;

1992–1993: Selected Master’s courses in Economics, Bristol University (Great Britain);

1987–1993: BSc and MSc in Economics, Groningen University (the Netherlands, cum laude).

FELLOWSHIPS

Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge (since 2016);

CIREQ Montreal (since 2014);

Netherlands Network of Economics (NAKE; since 2003);

CentER for Economic Research, Tilburg University (since 1998);

Tinbergen Institute (2009-2013);

Tilburg Sustainability Center (since 2010);

Amsterdam Global Change Institute (2011-2013).

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Environmental and natural resource economics, behavioral economics, development economics, experimental economics, field experiments.

RESEARCH STATEMENT

My research focuses on using behavioral insights and (field–) experimental methods to assess and improve the effectiveness of environmental policy making – in developed countries, and also in developing countries. I do so by working with many different organizations in the Netherlands –– municipalities, companies (such as electricity utilities and waste treatment facilities), ministries and advisory institutes to the government (like CPB and PBL) – but also with international organizations (like the OECD and the World Bank) and foreign governments (especially Ghana and Burkina Faso). The method used – Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) – allows for causal inference about both policy effect sizes as well as the mechanism via which the impact is delivered. Combining high–quality economic research on environmental problems with high societal impact is what I strive for in my research.