space — a considerable upsurge in the attention economists have for space is obvious. This attention is spurred by the New Economic Geography, easy availability of spatially referenced data and adequate software as well as by a fascination for the rapid development of cities and concurrent implications for the development of rural areas. Knowledge-related externalities and population-related behavioral trends are considered to be significant determinants of growth and development.

current work — one of the areas of current activities concerns spatial analyses of economic growth and income equality, using spatial econometric techniques. Issues such as spatial dimensions of obesity and health, investments of the manufacturing industry, location behavior, land use and urban sprawl, population-employment dynamics, and human capital formation are being addressed as well.

some publications — Spatial sorting of immigrants across urban and rural areas in the United States: changing patterns of human capital accumulation since the 1990s, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 90, 2008 (forthcoming, with Brigitte S. Waldorf and Julia Beckhusen).

Technological leadership, human capital and economic growth: a spatial econometric analysis for U.S. counties, 1969–2003, Annals of Economics and Statistics 83, 2008 (forthcoming, with Valerien O. Pede and Henri L.F. de Groot).

Does accessibility to higher education matter? Choice behavior of high school graduates in the Netherlands, Spatial Economic Analysis 1(2), 2006, 155–74  (with Carla Sá and Piet Rietveld).

A spatial economic perspective on language acquisition: segregation, networking and assimilation of immigrants, Environment and Planning A 37(10), 2005, 1877–97 (with Thomas de Graaff and Brigitte S. Waldorf).

Space and growth: a survey of empirical evidence and methods, Région et Développement 21, 2005, 13–44 (with Maria Abreu and Henri de Groot).

The University: A Regional Booster? Economic Impacts of Academic Knowledge Infrastructure, Aldershot: Ashgate, 1992.