Thesis titles 2022-2023

Determinants of the fatality rate of COVID-19. Using the most recent data about the fatality rate of COVID-19, you investigate what country-level characteristics are related to a higher fatality rate.

Determinants of the vaccination rate of COVID-19. Using the most recent data about the vaccination rate of COVID-19, you investigate what country-level characteristics are related to a higher vaccination rate.

Subjective well-being and COVID-19. Are people in Belgian municipalities with more COVID-19 cases less happy with their life?

Measuring the well-being of animals. Can we measure the instrinsic value of an animal life? How does it compare the value of a human life? How much do humans value the existence of animals? These hard questions have hardly been addressed in the academic literature, but are very relevant for the future of our planet.

Are we aging successfully? Aging is one of the key societal challenges. It is therefore important to monitor who is aging successfully. Using data from Survey of Health Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) this thesis investigates the micro and macro determinants of successful aging in Europe.

Cumulative deprivation in Belgium. Using data from EU-SILC you investigate the evolution of cumulative deprivation in Belgium. We say that a country suffers more from cumulative deprivation when it is more likely that the same people occupy a bottom position in all dimensions of well-being.

What does “inequality” mean to you? Using a questionnaire study amongst master students from economics and socio-economics, the opinions on the meaning of the notion “inequality” are studied and compared. Amongst others, the hypotheses to be tested are whether socio-economists are more inequality averse than economists, whether girls are more inequality averse than boys, and whether students active in youth associations are more inequality averse. Moreover, the relation between risk aversion and inequality aversion can be compared in detail.

What is important in your life? This thesis explores the views of Belgians about the good life. Is health more important than income? What about housing quality? Do sick people care more about their health, or fitness-freaks? Is income more important for poor people? The MEQIN data set provides a unique data set to delve into the notion of the "good life" of Belgian respondents.

Affordability of Health Care in Belgium. What are the characteristics of the households that report that health care is not affordable? The MEQIN data set allows you to study the determinants of this question and to understand how many poor and sick household find health care hard to afford.

Personal funding of care: a silver bullet? Recently, persons with a disability get an individual budget to fund their care needs (persoonsvolgende financiering). The system has advantages, but also disadvantages. This thesis makes a careful evaluation of the system of individual budgets in sector of disabled persons.

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