Environmental

Economics and
Natural Resources
Thesis topics at the
Environmental Economics
and Natural Resources Group DATE

6 October 2022

AUTHOR

Rolf A. Groeneveld
Introduction

Environmental and resource economics is an exciting field that

integrates insights from economics and the natural sciences to
address a pressing issue: how do we cater for the needs of future
generations without imperilling future generations and
ecosystems?
This brochure lists possible topics for a BSc or MSc thesis at
the Environmental Economics and Natural Resources Group
(ENR). The brochure is by no means meant as an exhaustive list
of thesis topics. You are always free to suggest a topic by
yourself!
The topics are listed in no particular order, so you can browse
through the list to find a topic of your liking or just be inspired.
At the end of the brochure you will find an index of keywords to
help you find thesis topics associated with a particular policy
domain or methodology.
For each thesis topic we also suggest courses that will be
helpful. Be aware that this is an indication of relevant knowledge
and not necessarily a requirement. You can discuss the required
background with the contact person.
For more information on BSc and MSc theses and internships
at ENR you can contact Mohammed Degnet:
mohammed.degnet@wur.nl.
You can also follow our group via Facebook1 or enrol in the
ENR thesis and internship Brightspace site by downloading and
filling out the intake form2 and sending it to Mohammed Degnet.

1
https://www.facebook.com/WURENR
2
https://www.wur.nl/web/file?uuid=7ac3b48d-2409-42bf-8606-
bb2d146da696&owner=497277b7-cdf0-4852-b124-
6b45db364d72&contentid=604248
2
ENR staff

Francisco Alpízar
francisco.alpizar@wur.nl
Prof Alpízar is the chair of the
Environmental Economics and
Natural Resources Group.
Alpizars work has explored
incentive based approaches to
generate improved private and
public management and use of
natural resource with a
particular focus on climate change and developing countries.

Hans-Peter Weikard
hans-peter.weikard@wur.nl
My research examines game
theoretic modelling options for
cooperation between agents that are
assumed to be either selfish or have
other-regarding preferences
(altruism, fairness). I focus on the
management of public goods, where
free-rider incentives hamper
cooperation. I am also interested in theoretical issues of
environmental ethics, biodiversity, and natural resources.

3
 Rolf Groeneveld
rolf.groeneveld@wur.nl
I am the education coordinator of
the ENR group. My teaching and
research focus on the economic
analysis of ocean and coastal
management. This includes such
issues as fisheries policy, non-
market valuation of marine and
coastal ecosystem services, and
spatial planning. I am open to all
kinds of theses in this domain, but
my main expertise lies in applied bioeconomic modelling in
GAMS, R, or Python, and in non-market valuation and cost-
benefit analysis.

Andries Richter
andries.richter@wur.nl
My research deals with the
interaction between society and
ecosystems, and the role of
institutions in this interaction. In such
"social-ecological systems" human
behaviour has profound impacts on
natural resources and vice versa.
Whether these systems are
sustainably managed depends on the formal laws and informal
norms that couple the natural and the socioeconomic system.
In my research I disentangle the two-way feedbacks between
humans and nature by using theoretical models, empirical
analyses, and behavioural experiments.

4
 Edwin van der Werf
edwin.vanderwerf@wur.nl
My teaching and research focus on
climate change mitigation, that is,
reductions of greenhouse gas emissions,
and (forest) carbon sequestration. For
the theses I’ve supervised, students
typically have used applied econometrics and/or statistics (on
existing data or data that they collected themselves, e.g.
through an (online) survey), or used a forest management
model, but I’m certainly open to other research methods.

Xueqin Zhu
xueqin.zhu@wur.nl
My research develops integrated
environmental-economic models of
food, water, and biofuel. I focus on two
issues: (1) regional food production
under climate change; and (2) the food-
biofuel-water nexus. Water is an
essential input for both food and biofuel
production and the natural environment
is an input for agricultural production. Both are likely to be
heavily affected by climate change. My methods include
applied general equilibrium modelling, mathematical
programming, econometric analysis and stochastic frontier
analysis, in GAMS and Stata.

5
 Anna Lou Abatayo
anna.abatayo@wur.nl
I am interested in examining
and understanding the
dynamics between individual
choices and the environment.
In the past, I worked on
projects in the management
of common pool resources,
biodiversity conservation,
and climate change, mainly
looking at individual cooperative behaviour: what fosters it,
what breaks it down, and what institutions can be put in place
to incentivize cooperative behaviour. My methods involve
working with data from: (1) economic experiments (primarily),
(2) own surveys, (3) panel / longitudinal surveys, and (4)
other observational data (e.g., GIS and Twitter).

Suphi Sen
suphi.sen@wur.nl
My research focuses on applied
econometrics and applied
theory to analyse questions
within environmental and
resource economics, with a
particular focus on climate
policy and fossil resources. One
of my current research
interests, for example, is the
issue of asset stranding which can arise in the transition to a
clean economy. In this research, I analyse stock market data
with econometric methods to answer questions such as: How
do climate change and policy beliefs interact with asset prices?

6
 Mohammed Degnet
mohammed.degnet@wur.nl
I am the thesis and internship
coordinator at the ENR group.
My research interests centre
around the topics of
sustainable natural resource
management and
environmental economics. In
particular, I am keen to carry
out research on the role of behavioural factors in influencing
resource management and the impacts of interventions on
sustainable production and consumption. In addition, I am
interested to look into the development outcomes of
sustainable resource management. My research methods are
mainly applied econometric and statistical analyses, but I am
open to other research methods.
Joyce Delnoij
joyce.delnoij@wur.nl
As a behavioural game theorist and
experimental economist, I am
fascinated by understanding how
behavioural factors explain human
decision making. In my current
research I examine healthy and
sustainable food systems, and
specifically explore consumer
preferences and the tools that encourage healthy and
sustainable behavior. I am also interested in issues regarding
cooperation, trust and online marketplaces. My preferred
methods include experiments, surveys and non-cooperative
game theory, but I am also open to other methods.

7
Thesis topics

Fishing for history in the mesopelagic

Many international fisheries are managed by a quota system
where the proportion of each country in the Total Allowable Catch
(TAC) is fixed. The proportion of each country is often determined
by a variety of social, economic, and political factors, but a very
important factor is how much each country's fishery was catching
before the quota were introduced: the higher the historical catch,
the larger the proportion in the TAC. For new fisheries, such as
the emerging mesopelagic fishery, this creates an incentive to
catch a lot, even at a short-term loss, in order to enhance one's
negotiation position when the TAC is introduced. How strong is
this incentive? What factors determine it? How likely is such a
"positioning fishery" for the mesopelagic?

Starting literature:
Ekerhovd N-A. 2008. Essays on the Economics of Shared Fishery
Resources. Norwegian School of Economics and Business
Administration, Bergen, Norway.
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/163469.
Standal D, Grimaldo E. 2020. Institutional Nuts and Bolts for a
Mesopelagic Fishery in Norway. Marine Policy 119:104043.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2020.104043.

Suggested ENR-31306, UEC-52803

courses
Keywords fisheries, mesopelagic, game theory
Contact Rolf Groeneveld, Hans-Peter Weikard

Understanding Donation Behaviour to Save the Aral Sea

The shrinking of the Aral Sea is one of the worst manmade
environmental disasters in modern history. Once the fourth
largest body of water in the world, it has shrunk to the point
8
where it could dry up altogether, giving rise to major
environmental, economic, and social issues in Central Asia,
especially in its epicenter – Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, and
directly affecting the local environment and economy of more
than 33 million inhabitants of the Aral Sea basin. While there are
several initiatives aimed at the recovery of the Aral Sea and the
reclamation of previous sea basins that have now become
deserts, one major obstacle that these initiatives face is
inadequate funding.
With possible help from the Multi-Partner Human Security
Trust Fund for the Aral Sea region, a trust fund jointly established
by the Government of Uzbekistan and the United Nations, this
master’s thesis project aims to investigate the factors that could
incentivize individuals around the world to donate more to save
the Aral Sea. Do pooling donations, donation matching, and an
individual’s belief about how much their peers are donating
influence one’s donation? Is more information about the Aral Sea
and its devasting effects on people and the environment relevant
to increased donation amounts? Which persuasion techniques are
effective at increasing donations and which are not?
This master’s thesis project involves (1) studying the
literature on donation behaviour and making a list of what has
worked and what has not; (2) creating a survey to study donation
behaviour, which the trust fund can help disseminate globally;
and (3) analysing the survey results.

Suggested AEP-32306, DEC-54306

courses
Keywords behavioural economics, statistical analysis,
water, donations, finance
Contact Anna Abatayo

9
Understanding the market for deep-sea fish
Mesopelagic fish (i.e. those that live between 200m and 1000m
below the surface of the ocean) are a potentially interesting
source of fish meals and oils for non-human consumption. Before
more can be understood about the potential of these species to
contribute to non-human consumption value chains, an
assessment of the existing value chains must be made.
This thesis project would involve understanding how the
fish meal market currently operates, with particular focus on deep
sea species. How did/does a market for deep sea fish products
come about? What are the potential linkages between such
markets and key actors there (i.e. legislation, fishers, fishing
companies, buyers)?

Suggested reading:
Naylor et al. 2000. Effect of Aquaculture on World Fish Supplies.
Nature 405:1017–1024.
Österblom et al. 2015. Transnational corporations as ‘keystone
actors’ in marine ecosystems. PloS one 10(5):e0127533.
St John et al. 2016. A dark hole in our understanding of marine
ecosystems and their services: perspectives from the
mesopelagic community. Frontiers in Marine Science 3(31).

Suggested YSS-35306
courses
Keywords Applied General Equilibrium modelling,
fisheries, mesopelagic, aquaculture, food policy
Contact Rolf Groeneveld, Xueqin Zhu, Suphi Sen

Design of payment schemes for carbon remuneration in

plantation forests
A recent analysis of the VCS (Verified Carbon Standard) has
revealed that the fund can improve its carbon payment scheme
10
to more effectively incentivise carbon storage in plantation
forests. This leaves open the question of how an ideal carbon
remuneration scheme would look like.

Starting literature:
Documentation of the VCS payment scheme from their website
(https://verra.org/project/vcs-program/ ).
Indrajaya et al (2021) unpublished research paper; available on
request.

Suggested ENR-31306
courses
Keywords forests, optimal rotation, theory of the firm
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Coping with climate change – insights from community

governance in Cambodia
Climate change has a massive impact on traditional farming in
many parts of the world since rainfall patterns have become
irregular. These irregularities cause periods of extreme water
scarcity for the local population. People have developed several
coping mechanisms to deal with (temporal) scarcity (income
diversification, savings, migration) and the conflicts that may
arise in close-knit communities due to scarcity and how these are
solved (establishment of a local water governance system, the
impact of the cause of resource scarcity e.g. overconsumption or
natural causes such as droughts).
We collected survey data in rural Cambodia which we collected
in 2019. The survey was carried out in Kampong Chhnang, a
Cambodian province in which the rural population relies mainly
on rice farming for income. We are looking for a master student
with a working knowledge of multivariate analysis in Stata or R
who is interested in natural resource management in developing
countries.
11
 Suggested MAT-20306, AEP-21306, YSS-34306, DEC 30306
courses
Keywords climate change, resilience, statistical analysis,
community governance, coping mechanism,
Cambodia
Contact Andries Richter

Optimal lockdown: What should determine the optimal

lockdown policy to manage the Corona crises?
Policy makers all over the world have responded with a lockdown
to the recent Corona crises. A lockdown reduces contacts
between people and therefore the spread of the disease; it also
comes at a considerable cost. In fact the costs are increasing
over-proportionally with the length of the lockdown.
One of the key questions is now how long the lockdown should
last. This question can be addressed in a dynamic optimization
model. In a recent working paper (Alvarez et al. 2020) have
developed such a model.
The thesis research would start from this or a similar model.
It could be calibrated with data for the Netherlands published by
RIVM.

Starting literature:
Alvarez, F.E., Argente D. and Lippi, F. (2020) A simple planning
problem for the COVID-19 lockdown. NBER working paper 26981.

Suggested ENR-31306
courses
Keywords COVID-19, optimal control, policy instruments
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

12
Estimating the economic benefits of healthy plants on
human health
About 2 billion people are malnourished with iron, zinc, and
vitamin deficiencies, which leads to higher maternal and child
mortality and to stunting, wasting, chronic illnesses, and loss of
cognitive skills. One of the drivers of this problem is that the
nutritional content of cereals, fruits and vegetables have
decreased dramatically over the past five decades due to
breeding and unbalanced fertilization. The application of
fertilizers that contain balanced amounts of (micro)nutrients has
been found to increase crop yield and nutritional content. This
approach of “agronomic fortification (AF)” improves the overall
health of the plants and comes with co-benefits include enhanced
crop resilience to drought, pests, and diseases, elongation of
shelf-life, and hence human nutrition. However, cost-benefit
analyses of AF that include human health are scarce.
The objective of this thesis research therefore is to 1) create
an overview of current economic estimates about AF through
literature search, to 2) develop a methodology to estimate the
economic impact of AF on human and national benefits and 3) to
estimate these benefits.

Suggested AEP-32306
courses
Keywords food security, health, fertilizers
Contact Xueqin Zhu

Market survey for price premiums for mesopelagic feeds

(salmon aquaculture)
A sustainability challenge for salmon aquaculture is the quality
and source of the feed that is used to raise the fish. Carnivorous
species such as salmon require diets rich in protein and omega 3
and other micronutrients. Many feed producers use wild-caught
species such as sardines or anchovies to enrich feed, but the
13
industry is looking for alternatives. Soy beans or insect larvae are
examples of alternative sources of protein, but these do not have
the same omega 3 content as fish oils. An alternative is to use
mesopelagic fish such as lanternfish, which are currently not
exploited commercially and are high in the micronutrients desired
by the feed producers.
This project would involve exploring the state-of-the-art of
salmon feed production and considering whether consumers
would be willing to buy mesopelagic-fed salmon.

Suggested reading
Naylor et al. 2000. Effect of aquaculture on world fish supplies.
Nature 405(6790): 1017-1024.
Olsen et al. 2020. Can mesopelagic mixed layers be used as feed
sources for salmon aquaculture? Deep Sea Research Part II:
Topical Studies in Oceanography 180:104722.
Ytrestøyl 2015. Utilisation of Feed Resources in Production of
Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) in Norway. Aquaculture
448:365–374.

Suggested AEP-32306
courses
Keywords choice experiments, fisheries, mesopelagic,
aquaculture, food policy
Contact Rolf Groeneveld

Climate change and food production in the long-run

The world population is expected to increase to 11 billion by the
end of the century. With many more mouths to feed, and
changing dietary patterns across the world, agricultural
production levels need to increase as well. However, at the same
time the impacts of climate change – sea level rise, higher
temperatures, drought – threaten to increase food security
especially in low- and middle-income countries. What can we
14
learn from history when it comes to climate change adaptation in
food production? This project either (1) analyses historical trends
in climate change and food production, or (2) studies one or two
societies in the recent or more distant past which have tried to
reduce vulnerability to drought, sea level rise, insect outbreaks
or other adverse effects of climate change. What factors
encourage or hamper the ability to successfully adapt to climate
change? The thesis will be supervised largely by the RHI group.

Suggested FPH-21306; RHI-50806

courses
Keywords climate change, food production, history
Contact Ewout Frankema (RHI)

Voluntary carbon markets

Voluntary carbon markets have been growing in recent years.

They cater for firms who want to offset their greenhouse gas
emissions in an attempt of “greening” the firm. On the supply
side afforestation projects are playing a major role. The
largest schemes are probably the VCS (Verified Carbon
Standard) and Gold Standard.

The aim of the thesis is to critically examine the role of

voluntary carbon markets and to compare different carbon
payment schemes on the supply side.

Starting literature:

Santikarn, M., A. N. C. Kallhauge, S. Rana, D. Besley, and J.

Pryor. 2020. State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2020.
Washington DC: World Bank.
15
Documentation of the VCS payment scheme from their
website (https://verra.org/project/vcs-program/ ).

Suggested ENR-31306
courses
Keywords Carbon markets, voluntary markets, forests,
payments for environmental services
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Do Extreme Temperatures Affect Public Opinion on

Climate Change?

Public opinion plays a critical role in the response to global

warming. How do extreme temperatures affect this public
opinion? This project involves working with two US datasets
on a yearly-level that are available online: (1) county-level or
state-level temperatures, and (2) public opinion on climate
change of a representative US sample. It is also possible to
do the analysis for a different country if such data are
available.
Suggested literature:
Brulle, R. J., Carmichael, J., & Jenkins, J. C. (2012). Shifting
public opinion on climate change: an empirical assessment of
factors influencing concern over climate change in the US,
2002–2010. Climatic change, 114(2), 169-188.
Cody, E. M., Reagan, A. J., Mitchell, L., Dodds, P. S., &
Danforth, C. M. (2015). Climate change sentiment on Twitter:
An unsolicited public opinion poll. PloS one, 10(8), e0136092.

16
 Suggested AEP-21306, DEC-32806
courses
Keywords Climate Change, Public Perceptions,
Statistical Analysis
Contact Anna Abatayo

Slave trades, mortality and the environment

The Atlantic slave trade has had a profound impact on African
development. There is a large body of literature analysing the
mechanisms behind the slave trade from the African continent,
paying attention to – amongst others – socioeconomic and
political factors. Recent research suggests that also
environmental factors played a role (Fenske & Kala, 2014).
Climate seems to have had an influence on the number of slaves
that were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean. More slaves were
captures and transported in colder years, as mortality was lower
and agricultural yields were higher. Warmer temperatures, in
contrast, increased the costs of capturing and feeding slaves. In
this thesis project the student will follow-up on this research by
analysing the relationship between slave trade and the
environment. How have geographic characteristics and
environmental shocks impacted on mortality and slave trades?
The thesis will be supervised largely by the RHI group.

Starting literature
J. Fenske & N. Kala (2014). Climate and the slave trade.
https://cde.williams.edu/files/2014/10/FenskeKalaClimateAug20
14.pdf

Suggested RHI-51806
courses

17
 Keywords slave trade; mortality; environment; history
Contact Ewout Frankema (RHI)

Radioactive Waste disposal: How is it done and what

does it cost?
Storing radioactive waste involves a long-term cost. The
(perceived) risks involved in operating nuclear power plants but
also the unresolved question how waste should be stored has led
the German government to decide a phase-out of nuclear power.
In France, policy makers have not taken such action. Also, the
share of nuclear power in the energy sector in France is high
compared to other countries. Therefore, an understanding of
French policies concerning nuclear waste management is
important in a European perspective. The thesis would have
descriptive part with an up to date summary of relevant policies
and it would offer a risk assessment of the nuclear waste disposal.
This thesis can be done for a single country, like France, or
comparing strategies of different countries.

Starting literature
Lehtonen, M. (2015) Megaproject underway: Governance of
nuclear waste management in France. In Brunnengräber et al.
(eds.) Nuclear Waste Governance. Berlin: Springer. 117-138.

Suggested ECH-51806, ENR-21306

courses
Keywords nuclear waste management, risk assessment,
risk management, France
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Risk!
Attitudes towards risk have a profound impact on how we deal
with decisions. But why are some individuals more risky than

18
others? And to what extent are attitudes towards risk shaped by
our environment?
We collected survey data in Norway where we elicited risk
preferences with fishers (a risky profession) and the general
pucblic. You will analyze what explains risk and whether risk
preferences are distributed across Norway. Are people living in
isolated areas more or less risky than people living in urban
areas? We are looking for a master student with a working
knowledge of multivariate analysis in Stata or R.

Suggested MAT-20306, AEP-21306, YSS-34306, DEC 30306

courses
Keywords risk, social norms, Norway, no risk no fun
Contact Andries Richter

Circular farming: What is it? What are the costs and what
are the environmental benefits?
In recent debates “circular farming” has been advocated. The
thesis would be the first to offer an environmental economic
assessment of circular farming methods. The research starts with
the search for a proper definition of the catch word “circular”.
Only then one can define appropriate indicators for environmental
impact. Going one step further the thesis would explore and
assess potential policy measures that are currently discussed.

Starting literature
Mansholt lecture 2018 “Circularity in agricultural production” by
prof Imke J.M. de Boer and prof Martin K. van Ittersum

Suggested ENR-21306, AEP-32306

courses
Keywords circular farming, impact assessment
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard / Joyce Delnoij

19
Aviation taxes
Greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation sector increase
rapidly. How do fuel price changes affect passenger numbers?
What are the effects of existing policies on ticket sales? How do
ticket and fuel price changes affect the local economy? We are
looking for a student who would like to apply econometric
methods to answer one or more of these questions.

Suggested AEP-21306, YSS-34306

courses
Keywords climate change, aviation, econometrics
Contact Edwin van der Werf

How will fishers in the North Atlantic respond to a market

for deep sea fish?
Mesopelagic fish (e.g. lanternfish, found 200m-1000m below the
surface of the ocean) are a vastly abundant resource. They are
not fished commercially at large scales at present, but they are
potentially interesting as ingredients in aquaculture or terrestrial
livestock feed, or as ingredients in nutraceutical oils and
supplements. Experimental fisheries are attempting to determine
the stock size and potential sustainability of this fishery. There is
currently a fleet of vessels that do not target mesopelagic species,
but which could theoretically switch to targeting these fish if a
market arises.
This thesis project would involve creating an Agent Based
Model or other similar alternative to illustrate a theoretical
understanding of the conditions necessary for fishers to switch to
targeting this new fishery. The student will create this model
based on (limited) available empirical data and well-motivated
assumptions developed by the student and their supervisor(s).

20
Recommended reading
Prellezo 2019. Exploring the economic viability of a mesopelagic
fishery in the Bay of Biscay. ICES Journal of Marine Science
76(3):771-779.
St John et al.2016. A dark hole in our understanding of marine
ecosystems and their services: perspectives from the
mesopelagic community. Frontiers in Marine Science 3:31.
Janssen & Ostrom 2006. Empirically based, agent-based models.
Ecology and society, 11(2).

Suggested INF-22306, INF-34806, INF-51806

courses
Keywords agent-based modelling, fisheries, mesopelagic
Contact Rolf Groeneveld

What can be done about land subsidence? What does it

cost? who should pay?
Land subsidence in the Netherlands (but also in other parts of the
world) threatens agricultural production, causes damages to
buildings and infrastructure, and increases flood risks.
There are open questions about the adequate adaptation
measures. These should be guided by assessments of costs and
benefits of measures. The thesis would comprise a description of
the costs of land subsidence and the costs of measures to slow it
down. Interesting economic questions arise around the issue of
responsibility and fair burden sharing.

Starting literature
van Hardeveld, H.A., Driessen, P.P.J., Schot, P.P., Wassen M.J.
(2018) Supporting collaborative policy processes with a multi-

21
 criteria discussion of costs and benefits: The case of soil
subsidence in Dutch peatlands. Land Use Policy 77, 425-436.

Suggested ENR-21306, AEP 32306

courses
Keywords land subsidence, cost-benefit analysis,
institutions, burden sharing
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Information and uncertainty – the case of Fisheries

Fishing is uncertain business. How do fishers deal with risks and
take important decisions, such as investing in equipment, vessels
or quota in light of immanent uncertainty? And what do fishers
do to make the future a little bit more certain?
We have conducted a survey conducted with Fishers in Norway
that may shed light on those questions. We are looking for a
master student with a working knowledge of multivariate analysis
in Stata or R.

Suggested MAT-20306, AEP-21306, YSS-34306, DEC 30306

courses
Keywords risk, uncertainty, Norway, fisheries
Contact Andries Richter

Was Faustmann right?

Recently the famous Faustmann model that determines the
optimal rotation for a forest stand has been challenged by Li et
al. (2020); see starting literature. Li et al. claim that the cost
function of the timber producer (forest manager) implicit in the
Faustmann model is not appropriate. This challenge of the
seminal Faustmann model deserves careful scrutiny. An MSc
thesis on this topic would review the competing model
approaches and spell out the conditions under which one or the
other approach is preferred. It should also be explored how

22
recommendations for forest managers differ when one or the
other approach is used.

Starting literature:
Any textbook chapter on the Faustmann model.
Li, X.Y., G. Lu, R.S. Yin. 2020. Research Trends: Adding a Profit
Function to Forest Economics. Forest Policy and Economics
113 (102133).
Wang, Y.F., L.Y. Li, R.S. Yin. 2021. A primer on forest carbon
policy and economics under the Paris Agreement. Forest Policy
and Economics 132 (102595).

Suggested ENR-31306
courses
Keywords forests, optimal rotation, theory of the firm
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Economy-wide impacts of a biofuel policy

Population growth and increasing per capita income will increase
demand for food and energy in the coming decades. It is
projected that 9 billion people will need to be fed by 2050, while
biofuels have been advocated as an alternative renewable energy
source in many countries for energy security. Agricultural
production of food and biofuels imposes tougher demands on the
land available and other natural resources such as water and
phosphorus. The need to ensure food security and preserve the
planet’s resources for future generations is pressing (FAO, 2009).
In the thesis, you are going to analyse economy-wide impacts of
a specific biofuel policy in a particular country. This will require
you to develop an applied general equilibrium model with relevant
sectors (e.g. food, biofuel and other sectors) or modify an
existing model from literature (e.g. Zhu & Van Ierland, 2005).
The model is solved by the GAMS software programme and can
be applied to various scenarios (e.g. different policy targets).
23
References
Zhu, X. and E. C. van Ierland (2005). A model for consumers'
preferences for Novel Protein Foods and environmental
quality. Economic Modelling 22:720-744.
FAO (2009). How to feed the world in 2050. Rome.

Suggested ENR-31306, YSS-35306

courses
Keywords food security , water, biofuel policy, GAMS
modelling, Applied General Equilibrium
modelling
Contact Xueqin Zhu

Calculating ecosystem services values for a (potential)

deep sea fishery
The mesopelagic zone (200m-1000m deep in the ocean)
performs many ecosystem services for humanity. For example,
fish in this ecosystem play a significant role in sequestering
carbon, recently estimated as having a monetary value to
humanity of US$300-US$900 billion per year (Hoagland et al.
2019). However, the ecosystem contains roughly 10 billion tons
of nutrient-dense fish, which are not being fished commercially
but which may become interesting as a resource in the future.
Ecosystem services estimations of the value of a mesopelagic
fishery for use in nutraceutical products or as input for
aquaculture or even livestock feed have not been performed.
This thesis project would involve reviewing recent academic
literature about potential uses of mesopelagic resources and
combining this with economic data to arrive at an ecosystem
services assessment for either the value of the fishery for feed
(either aquaculture or livestock), or as a supplement to human
diets, or for non-economic values. Depending on the student (BSc
or MSc), a non-market valuation survey might be appropriate.
24
Recommended reading:
St John et al. 2016 A dark hole in our understanding of marine
ecosystems and their services: perspectives from the
mesopelagic community. Frontiers in Marine Science 3:31.
Hoagland et al. 2019. Ecosystem Services of the Mesopelagic,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338103267_Ecosy
stem_Services_of_the_Mesopelagic

Suggested AEP-32306
courses
Keywords non-market valuation, ecosystem services,
mesopelagic
Contact Rolf Groeneveld

Causes and consequences of famines in history

Famines have occurred regularly throughout world history. For
the period from the 1860s until 2016, it has been estimated that
as a result of episodes of extreme hunger about 128 million
people died across the world (Our world in data, 2017). Famines
may result from natural causes, as was for example the case for
the Chinese famine of 1907 in which heavy rains led to extensive
flooding causing the deaths of an estimated 25 million people.
Other famines, such as the Holodomor (which means “to kill by
starvation”) of 1932-1933, which killed millions of Ukrainians
living under the Soviet regime, were man-made.
In modern history, however, the presence of famines has
diminished significantly. Smaller regions of the world are now at
risk of famines, and famines have become less deadly. Still, even
in recent history natural disasters as well as wars and
totalitarianism have led to mass starvation. This project analyses
the causes and consequences of famines in history. The student
may analyse one or several case studies, based on both
25
qualitative and quantitative sources. The thesis will be supervised
largely by the RHI group.

Source
Our world in data. (2017). Famines.
https://ourworldindata.org/famines

Suggested FPH-21306
courses
Keywords famine; causes; consequences; history
Contact Ingrid de Zwarte (RHI)

Can tropical forests save our climate?

Forests in tropical areas (both plantation forests and managed
natural forests) have a huge technical potential to store carbon
dioxide. But these forests are managed by people, and these
people need incentives not to cut down trees if society wants
more forest carbon sequestration. How can we design these
incentives such that they are effective? What is the potential of a
forest to store carbon at various carbon prices?

Suggested ENR-31306
courses
Keywords climate change, forests, renewable resources
Contact Edwin van der Werf

Do Protected Areas Increase Housing Prices?

To address the current biodiversity crisis in Europe and the rest
of the world, in June 2021 the European Parliament adopted the
resolution “EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030: Bringing nature
back into our lives.” President Joseph Biden also signed an
executive order to tackle the US’s biodiversity problems shortly
after his inauguration in January 2021. Both the EU and the
American biodiversity strategies aim to conserve 30% of lands
26
and waters by 2030, to preserve biodiversity as well as to provide
natural sinks for carbon dioxide. Protected areas, however, will
not only preserve (or increase) biodiversity and combat climate
change, but will also benefit households living nearby these areas
(i.e., living near forests have been found to benefit physical and
mental health) and hence, may increase the market value of
these houses.
This master’s thesis project uses the hedonic pricing method
to investigate the environmental value of protected areas (i.e.,
how protected areas affect housing prices). The project involves
working with georeferenced datasets, cleaning up various
datasets on housing sales prices and characteristics in either
Stata or R, and running statistical analyses.

Suggested AEP-32306
courses
Keywords non-market valuation, ecosystem services,
nature conservation, Hedonic Pricing, statistical
analysis
Contact Anna Abatayo

Exploiting one of the last frontiers in the oceans – fishing

in the mesopelagic zone as a threat to ocean sustainability
Mesopelagic fish (e.g. lanternfish, found 200m-1000m below the
surface of the ocean) are a vastly abundant resource. They are
not fished commercially at large scales at present, but they are
potentially interesting as ingredients in aquaculture or terrestrial
livestock feed, or as ingredients in nutraceutical oils and
supplements. There is currently a fleet of vessels that do not
target mesopelagic species, but which could switch to targeting
these fish if a market arises. The mesopelagic zone is an ‘open
access’ resource that is currently not actively governed. At the
same time, it is an important carbon sink for our planet and it is
unknown how fishing activities would affect carbon sequestration
27
and wider ecosystem dynamics. If fishing pressure is strong
enough it is possible that the system may cross tipping points and
is pushed outside a safe operating space. Whether this is likely,
will depend fundamentally on the costs of exploitation. You will
develop an open access bioeconomic model in a numerical
software (R, Matlab, Python, Excel) to simulate how various cost-
scenarios may affect the safe operating space of mesopelagic
fishing.

Suggested ENR-21306, ENR-31306, YSS 35306

courses
Keywords safe operating space, fisheries, mesopelagic
Contact Andries Richter

Stability and effectiveness of the Paris Agreement

The Paris agreement opens a new chapter in climate policy
making. But whether the agreement can be successful remains
an open question. This question can be examined with the tools
of game theory to reveal countries’ incentives to participate
(ratify) in the agreement and to make substantial contributions
to greenhouse gas abatement.

Suggested ENR-31306, ECH-31306

courses
Keywords climate change, international environmental
agreements, game theory
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Sustainable life style and economy-wide impacts

New concepts such as circular economy, sustainable life style and
investment on renewable energy become more important for the
improvement of economic efficiency and the environmental
quality, which requires fundamental research. Sustainable
lifestyle is defined as a way of living with lower environmental
28
impact. It attempts to reduce the use of resources and to enhance
the sustainability of the planet. For example, a low animal-based
protein diet is advocated to reduce the environmental pressure
from animal production, and green energy produced from non-
fossil fuel is advertised to consumers to replace the traditional
fossil fuel based energy. Although we need to know that lifestyle
change is not easy, it provides great opportunities to sustainably
use our resources in the world. Meanwhile, a life style change is
not automatically leading to a saving of the resource use because
there is a general-equilibrium effect, i.e. consumers may
consumer more other products or producers may export their
products to other countries without sustainable lifestyle (e.g.
externalities). In the thesis, you can look in depth how a small
change in the consumption of a green product can impact the
reallocation of the resources and the emissions from the
economic system. You can use a stylized economic model (e.g.
an applied general equilibrium model cf. Zhu and van Ierland,
2005; Zhu et al., 2006) to simulate the changes of a lifestyle in
a certain country/region/world to identify the real impacts. This
would allow you to discuss to what extent the lifestyle change can
make real contribution to the saving of the resources in the
planet.

References
Zhu, X. and E. C. van Ierland (2005). A model for consumers'
preferences for Novel Protein Foods and environmental
quality. Economic Modelling 22: 720-744.
Zhu, X., L. van Wesenbeeck and E. C. van Ierland (2006).
Impacts of Novel Protein Foods on sustainable food production
and consumption: lifestyle change and environmental policy.
Environmental & Resource Economics 35: 59-87.

29
 Suggested ENR-31306, ENR31806, ENP32306
courses
Keywords sustainable lifestyle, green products, modelling
Contact Xueqin Zhu

Forest carbon sequestration by smallholder farmers

Many smallholder farmers in developing countries have no or few
trees on their plots. A REDD system might help such farmers to
increase their earnings and store carbon. Under what conditions
might such a system work? What payment systems have been
tried, and which ones have been successful? We are looking for a
BSc student who wants to do a literature study on forest carbon
sequestration by smallholder farmers.

Suggested ENR-20306, ENR-21306, FNP-24306

courses
Keywords climate change, forests, renewable resources
Payments for Ecosystem Services, carbon
sequestration
Contact Edwin van der Werf

Modelling stock dynamics of macro- and/or microplastics

The amount of plastic waste has increased exponentially during
past decades. In Europe, post-consumer plastic waste was
estimated to be about 25.8 million tonnes in 2014 (Plastics
Europe 2015). There is increasing concern about the risks caused
by plastic waste in general, and by microplastics in particular.
Being highly persistent, macroplastics degrade very slowly into
smaller pieces (called microplastics). As such they can become
easily ingested by living organisms (fish, birds), and can sorb
other toxic (PBT) chemicals, increasing the risks of exposure to
humans. So far, very little has become known about the severity
of this externality. One possibility to approach this problem is to
examine stock pollution properties of macro- and microplastics.
30
The aim of the MSc thesis is to develop a (dynamic) stock
pollution model for analysing the accumulation of plastic waste
in, for example, marine or freshwater systems. We are looking
for a student with interest in theoretical modelling, and basic
programming skills (e.g. Matlab or Mathematica)

Suggested ENP-32306, ENR-31306, UEC-51806

courses
Keywords plastic pollution, stock dynamics assessment,
risk management, modelling
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Do Natural Disasters in Developing Countries Affect Media

Coverage of Climate Change in Europe?
China, the United States, India, the European Union, and Russia
are the top five largest emitters of greenhouse gases, the primary
driver of climate change while other countries, like Japan, the
Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Kenya, are among the top ten
countries most threatened by and vulnerable to climate change.
One way to combat climate change is by encouraging individuals
in emitting countries to change their attitudes and behaviours in
relation to climate change. One way to do this is through media
coverage of climate change. But while media coverage of climate
change has been found to be one of the fundamental factors in
shaping climate change attitudes and behaviours, its
determinants are largely under-investigated.
This master’s thesis project examines the effect of natural
disasters in countries that are most threatened by and vulnerable
to climate change on climate change media attention in Europe.
Possible datasets include (1) a database of natural disasters in
the world and (2) a historic archive of newspapers in Europe. The
project involves data crawling, cleaning, and merging datasets in
Stata or R, and running statistical analyses.

31
 Suggested INF-34306
courses
Keywords natural disasters, media attention, data
crawling, climate change, statistical analysis
Contact Anna Abatayo

Rebound effects in the Circular Economy

The recent policy initiative towards a circular economy aims at a
reduction of waste and an improvement of the availability of raw
materials. This calls for technological advances that favour reuse
and recycling. However, through reuse and recycling material
become more readily available and good produced with such
materials will get cheaper such that a reduction of resource use
will not be achieved: a rebound effect. The research examines
determinants of the strength of the rebound effect and how it can
be built into analytical resource extraction models.

Suggested ENR-31306
courses
Keywords circular economy, reuse and recycling, raw
materials, dynamic modelling, behavioural
responses, waste management
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Integrated environmental-economic modelling of the

food-water-energy-climate nexus
Agricultural productivity heavily depends on environmental
conditions such as water quantity and quality, soil fertility and
climate conditions, and the natural environment follows a series
of intrinsic biophysical processes. Agriculture has substantial
interactions with soil, water and air, and there is a clear challenge
for integrated assessment (Britz et al., 2012). Furthermore,
climate change threatens global agricultural production because
32
of the change in the water system and soil conditions. There is
an urgent need for research on sustainable food provision and the
related biofuel issue for the competition for land and other natural
resources, particularly water (Hellegers et al., 2008; Tilman et
al., 2009).
To tackle the food-energy-water-climate nexus, we need to
integrate the relevant environmental inputs and outputs in
economic models to identify solutions to sustainable food
provision and pay specific attention to climate change (Zhu and
van Ierland, 2012). This will require a reconsideration of current
agricultural practices in many regions of the world.
The integrated environmental economic modelling can be
based on the AGE framework, because it allows to include the
interactions between different agents of an economy (e.g. food
producer, energy producer and water sector) and different
systems (e.g. economic and environmental system), and can be
combined with bio-economic modelling (e.g. incorporating crop
growth models), and hydro-economic modelling (e.g.
hydrological cycle models).

References
Hellegers, P., D. Zilberman, P. Steduto and P. McCornick 2008.
Interactions between water, energy, food and environment:
evolving perspectives and policy issues. Water Policy 10 (1):1-
10.
Tilman, D., R. Socolow, J.A. Foley, J. Hill, E. Larson, L. Lynd, S.
Pacala, J. Reilly, T. Searchinger 2009. Beneficial Biofuels—The
Food, Energy, and Environment Trilemma. Science 325:270-
271.
Britz, W., M. van Ittersum, A. Oude Lansink, T. Heckelei 2012.
Tools for integrated assessment in agriculture state of the art
and challenges. Bio-based and applied economics 1:125-150.

33
Zhu, X. and E.C. van Ierland 2012. Economic modelling for water
quantity and quality management: a welfare program
approach. Water Resources Management 26:2491–2511.

Suggested ENR-31306, ENR31806, ENP32306

courses
Keywords food security, food-energy-water-climate nexus,
Applied General Equilibrium modelling, integrated
environmental-economic modelling
Contact Xueqin Zhu

Cod crash investigation – The collapse of the

Newfoundland cod fishery
In 1992, the Newfoundland cod fishery crashed and up to today
never recovered. The consequences where devastating for local
communities. An entire industry was wiped out and about 10,000
people lost their jobs. How is it possible that such a large and
important fishery just hit the wall at full speed? The goal of this
project is to unravel this unfortunate chain of events that has led
to the collapse of the Newfoundland cod fishery.
This project requires digging into published and unpublished
reports to understand better the economic context of the cod
crash. Ideally, economic and biological data will be analysed
jointly, in order to understand how biological and economic forces
have contributed to the unfortunate fate of Newfoundland cod.

Suggested ENR-31306, YSS-34306

courses
Keywords tipping points, resilience, statistical analysis,
fisheries
Contact Andries Richter

34
Approaches for transforming environmental impacts of
chemicals into values for decision-making
Under the new European chemicals legislation REACH
(Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of
Chemicals) chemicals of very high concern (particularly toxic,
persistent, bioaccumulative chemicals) can only be placed on the
market if its use is explicitly authorised by the European
Commission. Applying for an authorisation requires that a
company provides a socio-economic assessment (SEA) showing
that the benefits of use outweigh the potential negative (human
health and/or environmental) impacts of the chemical. The MSc
project will explore how negative environmental impacts arising
from the use of chemicals can be monetarised in order include
these values in a standard cost-benefit analysis. The student will
investigate if – and to what extent - existing of approaches for
monetarising negative impacts as used in other risk management
domains (water management, human health care, traffic) can be
used or need to be modified. The valuation approaches identified
will be applied to selected chemicals as a case study. In addition,
the student will develop a database format for transforming
environmental impacts into monetary values in order to support
data compilation and the identification of existing data gaps.

Suggested ENP-32306, AEP-32306

courses
Keywords chemical tests, risk and uncertainty, cost-benefit
analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Who adopts a carbon price?

Many countries have adopted a carbon tax or a cap and trade
system. But why do they choose to price carbon? And if they
decide to adopt a carbon price, what affects their choice for a

35
carbon tax or a cap and trade system? These questions can be
answered using country-level data using econometric methods.

Suggested AEP21306, DEC32806, YSS-34306

courses
Keywords carbon price, econometrics, carbon tax, cap and
trade
Contact Edwin van der Werf

Economic assessment of alternative adaptation options in

the agricultural sector
Food productivity differentials between developed and less-
developed countries are caused by different natural
environmental conditions, production technologies and policies.
Climate change effects (e.g. droughts and extreme weather)
affect food productivity, both in industrialised and in less-
developed countries. Adaptation of agro-food production systems
is needed to cope with climate change. However, different
adaptation options have different benefits and costs. Therefore,
we need to carefully analyse the potential impacts of the different
options and identify the most efficient ones. This can be selected
by a welfare optimization model which considers the benefits and
costs of the different options (Zhu et al., 2016).

Starting literature
Zhu, X., M. Moriondo, E.C. van Ierland, G. Trombi, and M. Bindi.
2016. A model-based assessment of adaptation options for
Chianti wine production in Tuscany (Italy) under climate
change. Regional Environmental Change 16: 85-96.

36
 Suggested ENR-31306, ENR31806, ENP32306, AEP-32306
courses
Keywords food security, cost-benefit analysis, climate
change, agriculture, optimization modelling
Contact Xueqin Zhu

Options for an International Environmental Agreement to

combat marine plastic litter
Marine Plastic litter has been recognised as a problem with
growing importance. Plastics are stock pollutants and their impact
stretch over long periods of time. At the same time the quality of
the marine environment requires global international
cooperation. What are key elements of an international
agreement for the reduction of marine litter? What are the
incentives for countries to participate in such an agreement?

Suggested ENR-31306, ECH-31306

courses
Keywords plastic pollution, marine plastic litter, stock
pollutants, international environmental
agreements
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Assessing and valuing impacts of endocrine disrupting

chemicals
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDs) are substances which
interfere with the hormonal system of living organisms. A
prominent example is Bisphenol A, which has been used in plastic
bottles. Exposure to EDs can lead to a number of severe adverse
effects in humans and animals even at low exposure doses.
Therefore, EDs are classified as ‘Substances of Very High
Concern’ under the European Chemicals Legislation REACH.
Companies producing or manufacturing EDs require a
authorisation from the European Commission. Such formal
37
approval can only be granted if companies can show that socio-
economic benefits outweigh negative impacts of use. In this MSc
projects the student will develop a framework for socio-economic
assessment of EDs. The framework can either use cost-
effectiveness or cost-benefit analysis. Part of the research will be
to develop an inventory of health impacts and costs for control
measures for EDs. Interested students should be willing to study
into both the economics and toxicological literature. Interest in
interdisciplinary modelling is required. Students with a
background in natural sciences, who have followed courses in
(environmental) economics are also explicitly encouraged.

Suggested ENP-32306, ENR-31306, UEC-51806

courses
Keywords plastic pollution, stock dynamics assessment,
risk management, modelling
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

The evolution of social norms for cooperative resource

harvesting
One of the key properties of social-ecological system is that social
and natural processes are intrinsically linked and mutually
influence each other. Marine systems, for example, are highly
affected – or even shaped – by fishing activity. Fishermen, on
their side, adapt their fishing practices to any changes that may
occur below the water. In reality, the story is even more
complicated, because resource users (such as fishermen) are
embedded in a social context and tend to make decisions
contingent on what people around them do. Restraining fishing
activity, for instance, is generally perceived to be acceptable if
everybody else follows suit. But no one wants to be the sucker
that is being taken advantage of. How does this fragile social
structure interact with any changes that may occur in the natural
system? The goal of this project is to use evolutionary game
38
theory to understand under which conditions cooperative
harvesting norms emerge. Building upon prior work by Richter
and Grasman (2013); Richter et al. (2013); and Sethi and
Somanathan (1996), the project will analyze how resource
scarcity promotes or hinders cooperation. In particular, it will be
considered whether the social norm to approve or disapprove of
others will depend on resource scarcity.
This project requires theoretical modelling. A good
understanding of mathematical modelling is a must and prior
knowledge of Matlab would definitely help.

References
Richter, A., Grasman, J. (2013) The transmission of sustainable
harvesting norms when agents are conditionally cooperative.
Ecological Economics 93, 202-209.
Richter, A., van Soest, D., Grasman, J. (2013) Contagious
cooperation, temptation, and ecosystem collapse. Journal of
Environmental Economics and Management 66, 141-158.
Sethi, R., Somanathan, E. (1996) The Evolution of Social Norms
in Common Property Resource Use. American Economic
Review 86, 766-788.

Suggested YSS-35306, ENR-31306

courses
Keywords common pool resources, social norms,
institutions, modelling
Contact Andries Richter

National policies and the adoption of electric vehicles in

the EU
Usage of the internal combustion engine negatively affects local
air quality and contributes to climate change. Electric vehicles
(EVs) appear to be the future. National policies to support EV
adoption differ a lot within the EU. How have these policies
39
differed in the past decade? How has this affected EV adoption in
EU countries? These and related questions can be answered using
econometric models.

Suggested AEP-21306, YSS-34306, DEC-32806

courses
Keywords transport , electric vehicle
Contact Edwin van der Werf

Paris Allows Cyclists to Jump Red Lights!

In 2015, Paris allowed cyclists to ignore red lights when

turning right or going straight through a T-junction. Many
claimed that this has led to greater bicycle safety; i.e., fewer
general crashes and fatal crashes. However, there is no
proper empirical investigation on the effect of what is known
as the “Paris Stop” on bicycle safety. This research project
provides this empirical investigation using open data from the
French national road traffic accident database. The research
project would be a good fit for students with a good working
knowledge of French or those willing to work with Google
Translate.

Suggested literature:

Tekle, A. M. (2017). Roll On, Cyclist: The Idaho Rule, Traffic

Law, and the Quest to Incentivize Urban Cycling. Chi.-Kent L.
Rev., 92, 549.

Arkhangelsky, D., Athey, S., Hirshberg, D. A., Imbens, G. W.,

& Wager, S. (2021). Synthetic difference-in-
differences. American Economic Review, 111(12), 4088-
4118.

40
 Suggested AEP-21306, DEC-32806
courses
Keywords Bicycles, Law, Policy Evaluation,
Statistical Analysis
Contact Anna Abatayo

The ‘resource curse’ in Africa and/or Latin America

Are natural resources, such as fossil fuels and minerals, a blessing

or a curse for development? The relationship between resource
extraction and economic development has been the subject of
intense debates since the 1950s. Research shows that countries
with an abundance of resources often underperform
economically. The term ‘resource curse’ was coined by Richard
Auty in 1993 to describe this phenomenon.
Many resource-rich countries not only rank as the poorest in
the world, they moreover have lower levels of democracy, higher
levels of inequality, and less developed public services such as
education and health care. What are the reasons for, and
exceptions to, these adverse outcomes? In both Africa and Latin
America, resources – such as gold, silver, copper, iron ore, and
petroleum – are abundant. Countries within these regions,
however, show a mixed picture when it comes to the relationship
between resources and development. This project analyses one
or two case studies from Africa and/or Latin America to enable a
better understanding of the mechanisms behind the ‘resource
curse’. The thesis will be supervised largely by the RHI group.

Suggested literature
Richard Auty, Sustaining Development in Mineral Economies. The
Resource Curse Thesis. (London: Routledge, 1993).

41
Suggested RHI-55306; RHI-51806
courses

Keywords resources; development; Africa; Latin

America

Contact Ewout Frankema (RHI)

How to regulate chemicals with multiple hazardous

properties? The case of persistent, bioaccumulative and
toxic (PBT) chemicals
Many chemicals in use are, in addition to being toxic, also
persistent and bioaccumulative (PBT chemicals). An on-going use
of persistent chemicals causes environmental concentrations to
increase over time. Bioaccumulative chemicals can accumulate in
organisms. Clearly, the environmental and health risks caused by
chemicals with multiple hazardous effects differ from those which
are purely toxic. Identifying appropriate risk management
measures requires tools for assessing combined damage. The
concept of bioaccumulation has, so far, not been integrated in
any pollution and damage assessment models. The aim of this
MSc research is to develop a theoretical model for combined
damage (cost) assessment of chemicals. Depending on data
availability the model can be applied to specific chemicals, e.g.
persistent organic pollutants. Interested students should have
knowledge in micro-economics, analytic thinking, and should be
willing to read some toxicological literature.

Suggested ENP-32306, ENR-31306

courses
Keywords damage cost assessment, chemicals, combined
risks, regulation
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

42
Network effects in the adoption of electric vehicles
Usage of the internal combustion engine negatively affects local
air quality and contributes to climate change. Electric vehicles
(EVs) appear to be the future. However, the adoption of electric
vehicles comes with network effects: the more EVs are on the
road, the more charging infrastructure will be available, and the
more attractive it becomes to buy an EV. Yet if there are few
charging stations, there is little incentive to purchase an EV as
the owner is then restricted to the range of the battery. What is
the role of such network effects in EV adoption? This question can
be analysed using agent-based modeling or econometric
modeling.

Suggested AEP-21306, YSS-34306, INF-34806

courses
Keywords transport, electric vehicle
Contact Edwin van der Werf

Pollution as an input into the production process

We all know the Cobb-Douglas production function that combines
capital and labour into output. But capital and labour are not the
only inputs: firms use energy and cause pollution in their
production process. And the Cobb-Douglas function is only a
simple tool and not a realistic representation of a production
process. The World Input-Output Database and the World KLEMS
(capital, labour, energy, materials statistics) database contain
lots of data on these issues and allow researchers to explore the
relation between pollution and production. Do you like working
with data? And did you take an econometrics course? Then this
might be the right topic for you.

43
 Suggested AEP-21306, YSS-34306
courses
Keywords pollution, econometrics, energy
Contact Edwin van der Werf

Time matters: Including stock dynamics in health impact

assessments of toxic metal exposure in urban
environments (MSc)
Urban populations are highly exposed to toxic metals such as
methylmercury, cadmium, lead or arsenic. Exposure occurs either
via the air, through drinking water, or through the uptake of food
(e.g. fish). Recent studies (e.g. Nedellec and Rabl 2016, Giang
and Selin 2016) have suggested an approach for assessing the
impacts and health damage costs from metal pollution, or the
benefits from pollution control measures. Existing approaches
assume that exposure to the pollutants remains constant over
time. However, several metals (e.g. methylmercury, lead) are
known to be highly persistent. As a consequence, exposure
concentrations in humans accumulate over time.
The aim of the MSc research is to explore how stock pollution
effects can be included in existing models for health damage cost
assessment. In addition, you can elaborate on a case study
quantifying health damage costs for specific urban environments.
Data can be compiled from the literature and national statistical
databases.

References
Nedellec, V., Rabl, A. (2016). Costs of health damage from
atmospheric emissions of toxic metals – methods and
results. Risk Analysis 36(11), 2081-2095.
Giang, A., Selin, N.E. (2016). Benefits of mercury controls for the
United States. PNAS 113(2), 286-91.

44
 Suggested ENR-31306, UEC-51806, DEC 31306
courses
Keywords urban pollution, health impacts, stock dynamics
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Non-renewable resources and waste management

Many of the resources we use are non-renewable. The most well-
known example are fossil fuels, but another example is
phosphate, which is an essential fertilizer. Because of their non-
renewability, the use of such resources needs to be well-planned,
taking into consideration future generations. Moreover, we need
to use (and reuse, and recycle) these resources efficiently. You
can therefore think of the following topics:
• How much recycling is optimal?
• What role can economic incentives play in stimulating people
to collect waste separately?
• What barriers exist to investments in renewable energy
projects in developing countries?
• What is the right discount rate in dealing with problems that
affect future generations?

A thesis on non-renewable resources or waste management is

likely to involve cost-benefit analysis, general equilibrium
modelling, or other economic modelling techniques.

Suggested ENR-31306, YSS-35306, ENP-32306, AEP-

courses 32306
Keywords phosphate, recycling, modelling, cost-benefit
analysis
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

45
The effect of Dutch electric vehicle policies on the
decarbonisation of road transport
Usage of the internal combustion engine negatively affects local
air quality and contributes to climate change. Electric vehicles
(EVs) appear to be the future and the Dutch government has
applied various policies in the past decade to support the adoption
of electric vehicles, such as tax advantages for leased and private
cars, support for the roll-out of charging infrastructure. However,
these policies have not been stable, which has probably
contributed to strong fluctuations in the annual numbers of new
EVs. How have past policies affected the adoption of EVs? This
and related questions can be answered using econometric
models.

Suggested AEP-21306, YSS-34306, DEC-32806

courses
Keywords transport , electric vehicle
Contact Edwin van der Werf

Do climate shocks cause migration? Harnessing historical

evidence
There is a lively debate in many academic disciplines, with a
leading role for economics, on the effects of climate shocks and
climate change on migration (see for a literature review, Cipolina,
De Benedictis and Scibè (2021)). There is a lot of scaremongering
in the media about large scale ‘climate migration’, especially from
Africa to Europe. Empirical findings, however, are extremely
mixed: climate shocks seem to cause some migration, but this is
not always the case, and the effect is not very strong. Historical
data can help us understand this relationship better. In this
project, you will use a panel dataset with historical migration data
from Rwanda and Burundi to Uganda (1920-1960), as well as
qualitative data from colonial archives, to study the relationship
between rainfall shocks, food prices and emigration on a district
46
level. Other case studies may be explored as well (historical as
well as more contemporary), as long as appropriate data can be
found. The thesis will be supervised largely by the RHI group.

Suggested RHI-54806
courses
Keywords migration; climate shocks; colonial history
Contact Michiel de Haas (RHI)

Discounting health impacts – good or evil? (MSc and BSc)

Our modern life-style is increasingly causing diverse health
problems such as obesity, the increase of allergies, diabetes, and
pulmonary or cardiovascular diseases. Identifying appropriate
health treatments or regulatory strategies (e.g. a ban of cars in
urban centres) requires to compare the costs of an intervention
against expected health benefits. In many cases expected health
benefits cannot be monetised but are expressed in terms of utility
measures such as quality of adjusted life years (QALYs) or
disability adjusted life years (DALYs). Cost-effectiveness analysis
is then used to compare and rank costs and benefits of the
intervention. If monetary costs stretch over long(er) periods,
economists apply discounting to determine the present value of
costs. For many years, there is a controversial debate in the
health economics literature whether health impacts expressed as
QALYs or DALYs should be discounted as well, and how (e.g.
Johannesson et al. 1994, Claxton et al. 2006).
The aim of this BSc or MSc thesis is to reflect upon the
economic foundations of discounting in (regulatory) decision-
making, and to disentangle the arguments for and against
discounting health impacts. The topic can be addressed at the
level of a BSc or an MSc thesis. Furthermore, depending on your
preference, it can be approached from a theoretical economics’
or an environmental ethics perspective.

47
References
Johannesson, M., PLiskin, J.S., Weinstein, M.S. (1994): A note on
QALYs, time tradeoff, and discounting. Medical Decision
Making 14, 188-193.
Claxtion, K., Sculpher, M., Culyer, A., McCabe, C., Briggs, A.,
Akehurst, R., Buxton, M., Brazier, J. (2006): Discounting
and cost-effectiveness in NICE: stepping back to sort out a
confusion. Health Economics 15, 1-4.

Suggested ENR 21306, ENR-31306, UEC-51806

courses
Keywords urban pollution, health impacts, discounting
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Does generating bioenergy from European forests help

reducing carbon emissions?
Many European forests have seen a growth of stocks over the
past decades. It has been suggested by policy makers at the
national and the European level that forest resources, when used
for bioenergy, could reduce carbon emissions and play a role in
the transition to a low carbon economy. However, the
effectiveness of such policy is debated. The research should
survey and evaluate different assessment methods of carbon
impacts of the use of forest resources.

Suggested ENR-31306
courses
Keywords climate change, forests, renewable resources
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Is the Dutch gasoline tax too high?

According to Parry and Small (American Economic Review, 2005),
the American gasoline tax is too low and the UK one is too high.

48
What about the Dutch one? And does car size (not included in the
Parry-Small study) matter?

Suggested ENR-22306, UEC51806

courses
Keywords gasoline, microeconomics, fuel tax
Contact Edwin van der Werf

Economics of water management

Water is everywhere, but clean water for consumption or
irrigation is becoming increasingly scarce. Economic analyses of
water management deal with questions such as:
• How should water trading be organized?
• What are the costs and benefits of water management?
• How should international agreements on international rivers
be organized?
• How can we allocate water within river catchments
efficiently?
• What economic instruments should we use to manage water?

A student conducting an economic analysis of water management

is likely to collaborate with hydrologists. He or she may develop
an economic model, perform a game theoretical analysis, or
conduct a monetary valuation survey.

Suggested ENR-31306, ENP-31806, AEP-32306

courses
Keywords water, flooding, modelling, food security,
game theory
Contact Xueqin Zhu

Is there a behaviouralist revolution in economics?

Economic orthodoxy has focussed on rational selfish agents and
equilibrium states. Recent years have seen a rise of behavioural
49
approaches in economics where economic agents are driven by
other-regarding preferences (e.g. altruism) and they make
“mistakes”. The envisaged thesis research would explore these
developments of the discipline of economics through the lens of
Thomas Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolution. Is the turn towards
behavioural approaches in economics a scientific revolution in the
Kuhnian sense?

Suggested DEC-22803, ECH 51306

courses
Keywords economic methodology
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

What are the welfare effects of Dutch fuel pricing?

Global energy subsidies are huge and the related welfare losses
as well. The subsidies may be explicit, but most are implicit
subsidies by taxing the fuel (coal, oil, natural gas, gasoline,
diesel) at a lower rate than socially optimal. What does the Dutch
tax structure look like for various fuels? Are they over- or under-
taxed? And what are the welfare consequences.

Suggested ENR-22306, UEC51806

courses
Keywords gasoline, microeconomics, fuel tax
Contact Edwin van der Werf

The economics of water scarcity

Why do citizens have access to clean water in some countries,
while others struggle to get this basic natural resource? How do
institutions, politics and markets influence the provision (public
or private) of water services? What is the impact of inequalities
in access to clean water on societal outcomes, such as health,
education or economic performance? Tackling these questions is
critical to achieve an equitable, sustainable and prosperous
50
society, a key goal of the international development agenda as
stated in the Sustainable Development Goals by the United
Nations.
This thesis project will deal with the ultimate reasons
explaining the under provision of clean water, especially in
relation to how markets and politics interact with the
management of environmental resources. The student may study
contemporary communities in developing countries that lack
access to basic drinking services, or past societies that suffered
the ills of water scarcity but that overcame this major obstacle
during the 20th century. The thesis will be supervised largely by
the RHI group.

Suggested RHI-10806; ENP-23806

courses
Keywords water scarcity; institutions; politics; natural
resources
Contact Daniel Gallardo Albarrán (RHI)

Regulatory chemicals policies based on “essential use”

The European Union is preparing a revision of its chemical

policies, that is how pollutive and toxic substances are regulated.
A key concept that is potentially to become an important
regulatory tool is the “essential use” concept. In brief, a chemical
can remain in the market if its use is considered essential for the
functioning of society, otherwise it will be phased out.
The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the
Environment (RIVM) offers the opportunity to participate in the
analysis of a large representative survey that explores people’s
assessment of which uses of chemicals are considered essential.
RIVM is offering this opportunity to a student with strong
quantitative skills (statistical analysis, econometrics) to work on

51
the survey results and their interpretation. The research could be
done as an internship or as MSc thesis research.

Starting literature:
European Commision (2021) Chemicals Strategy for
Sustainability.(https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/c
hemicals-strategy_en ).
DeCanio & Norman (2007) Journal of Environmental Management
85,1-8.

Suggested AEP-31306, Statistics, Econometrics

courses
Keywords chemical pollution management, regulatory policy
design
Contact Hans-Peter Weikard

Fish exports, poverty and undernourishment

Many developing countries that suffer from undernourishment are
net exporters of seafood (Smith et al. 2010). One may think that
food exports contribute to the undernourishment problem.
However, exports also create revenues that may be used to
import cheaper food or machines that help producing other types
of food, making the link between food security and fish exports
ambiguous. The students will econometrically analyse global
trade and World Bank data and investigate the link between fish
export, poverty, and undernourishment.

References
Smith, M.D. et al. 2010. Sustainability and global seafood.
Science 327(5967):784-786.

52
 Suggested ENR-31306, AEP-21306, YSS-34306
courses
Keywords trade, fisheries, food security, poverty,
econometrics,
Contact Andries Richter

Water pricing and quality control

Water policies aiming at sustainable allocation and quality
conservation of water becomes more and more important. The
challenges in water management analysis include water pricing
and dealing with externalities and compensation. We are looking
for students with good modelling skills (preferably GAMS) who
are interested in the development of integrated water
management models to optimize the water allocation among
different sectors and to determine the optimal water quality level
in a local water system. A background in hydrological cycle and
economics will be helpful.

Suggested ENR-31306, ENR31806

courses
Keywords water, Applied General Equilibrium
modelling, optimization modelling, food
security
Contact Xueqin Zhu

Globalization, roving bandits, and marine resources

In their highly influential policy paper, Berkes et al. (2006) have
postulated that the widespread overexploitation of marine
resource is mostly fueled by highly mobile fishing fleets from the
industrialized world moving like “roving bandits” from sea to sea,
leaving behind poverty and empty oceans. While anecdotal
evidence seems to suggest that there is some merit in Berkes’
analysis of the problem, profound empirical analysis is so far
lacking. The goal of this project is to investigate whether more
53
empirical evidence can be found supporting (or rejecting) the
notion of roving bandits.
This project requires the student to dig into the databases of
FAO, OECD and perform large scale statistical analyses. Sound
knowledge of statistics (using software like Stata, R, or Eviews)
is essential.

References
Berkes, F. et al. 2006. Globalization, Roving Bandits, and Marine
Resources. Science 311:1557-1558.

Suggested AEP-21306, ENR-31306, YSS-34306

courses
Keywords fisheries, institutions, globalisation, statistical
analysis
Contact Andries Richter

Coping with climate hazards in colonial Southeast Asia

Why are some societies more susceptible to disaster than others?
The number and intensity of climate hazards, as well as the
severity of their impacts, have been unequally distributed across
the globe, with formerly colonized countries in the Global South
particularly affected. While most current research emphasizes
societal factors as crucial determinants of vulnerability and
resilience, we know little about how the economics and
institutions of colonialism affected societies’ long-run abilities to
cope with hazards.
This project examines economic and institutional
determinants of disaster impacts and responses in parts of
colonial Southeast Asia (c.1850-1950). This is an appropriate
area to study because of its relatively high exposure to hazards
and colonization by different colonial powers. The student may
pick one or several cases studies, and will analyse data on annual
climatic variations, their impacts, and economic and institutional
54
intervening factors, by exploiting a range of primary and
secondary sources. The thesis will be supervised largely by the
RHI group.

Suggested RHI-50806
courses
Keywords climate; natural disasters; resilience;
inequality; Southeast Asia
Contact Pim de Zwart (RHI)

55
Index

Africa, 42
agent-based modelling, 21
agriculture, 37
aquaculture, 14
Aquaculture, 10
aviation, 20
behavioural economics, 9
behavioural responses, 32
Bicycles, 41
biofuel policy, 24
burden sharing, 22
Cambodia, 12
cap and trade, 36
Carbon markets, 16
carbon price, 36
carbon sequestration, 30
carbon tax, 36
causes, 26
chemical pollution management, 52
chemical tests, 35
chemicals, 42
choice experiments, 14
circular economy, 32
circular farming, 19
climate, 55
climate change, 12, 15, 20, 26, 28, 30, 32, 37, 48
Climate Change, 17
climate shocks, 47
colonial history, 47
combined risks, 42
common pool resources, 39
56
community governance, 12
consequences, 26
coping mechanism, 12
cost-benefit analysis, 22, 35, 37, 45
cost-effectiveness analysis, 35
COVID-19, 12
damage cost assessment, 42
data crawling, 32
development, 42
discounting, 48
donations, 9
dynamic modelling, 32
econometrics, 20, 36, 44, 53
economic methodology, 50
ecosystem services, 25, 27
electric vehicle, 40, 43, 46
energy, 44
environment, 18
famine, 26
fertilizers, 13
finance, 9
fisheries, 8, 10, 14, 21, 22, 28, 34, 53, 54
flooding, 49
food policy, 10, 14
food production, 15
food security, 13, 24, 34, 37, 49, 53
food-energy-water-climate nexus, 34
forests, 11, 16, 23, 26, 30, 48
France, 18
fuel tax, 49, 50
game theory, 8, 28, 49
gasoline, 49, 50
globalisation, 54
green products, 30

57
health, 13
health impacts, 45, 48
Hedonic Pricing, 27
history, 15, 18, 26
impact assessment, 19
inequality, 55
institutions, 22, 39, 51, 54
international environmental agreements, 28, 37
land subsidence, 22
Latin America, 42
Law, 41
marine plastic litter, 37
media attention, 32
mesopelagic, 8, 10, 14, 21, 25, 28
microeconomics, 49, 50
migration, 47
modelling, 30, 31, 38, 39, 45, 49
Applied General Equilibrium modelling, 10, 24, 34, 53
GAMS modelling, 24
integrated environmental-economic modelling, 34
optimization modelling, 37, 53
mortality, 18
natural disasters, 32, 55
natural resources, 51
nature conservation, 27
no risk no fun, 19
non-market valuation, 25, 27
Norway, 19, 22
nuclear waste management, 18
optimal control, 12
optimal rotation, 11, 23
Payments for Ecosystem Services, 30
payments for environmental services, 16
phosphate, 45
plastic pollution, 31, 37, 38
58
Policy Evaluation, 41
policy instruments, 12
politics, 51
pollution, 44
poverty, 53
Public Perceptions, 17
raw materials, 32
recycling, 45
regulation, 42
regulatory policy design, 52
renewable resources, 26, 30, 48
resilience, 12, 34
resources, 42
reuse and recycling, 32
risk, 19, 22
risk and uncertainty, 35
risk assessment, 18
risk management, 18, 31, 38
safe operating space, 28
slave trade, 18
social norms, 19, 39
Southeast Asia, 55
statistical analysis, 9, 12, 27, 32, 34, 54
Statistical Analysis, 17, 41
stock dynamics, 45
stock dynamics assessment, 31, 38
stock pollutants, 37
sustainable lifestyle, 30
theory of the firm, 11, 23
tipping points, 34
trade, 53
transport, 40, 43, 46
uncertainty, 22
urban pollution, 45, 48

59
voluntary markets, 16
waste management, 32
water, 9, 24, 49, 53
water scarcity, 51

60