We are recruiting a PhD candidate for a project on the economics of long-term care. You will exploit exogenous variation in care provision to better understand crucial causal relationships in this field.

Long-term care helps the elderly to cope with their limitations and is at the top of the policy agenda in the Netherlands and other developed countries. Specifically, your research will be about two types of efficiency within long-term care. First, the optimal allocation of patients across different types of care: should a patient receive informal care, home care or nursing home care? Second, differences in efficiency between care providers: is there variation in quality, and if so what are the causes?

To answer these questions, you will analyse linked administrative data for the entire Dutch population and novel data sources such as online patient evaluations. Your research combines econometric analyses with deep insight in the policy context to draw conclusions that are both scientifically sound and policy relevant, which is a valuable skill if you aspire a future career in academia, government or the industry.

You will be based at the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management and be part of a research group that also includes researchers at the Erasmus School of Economics. Your supervisors are Prof. Eddy van Doorslaer, Dr. Bram Wouterse and Dr. Pieter Bakx. We give guidance about opportunities to present your work in scientific articles and at conferences, to take courses, to arrange a research visit abroad, and to liaise with policymakers. Thus, this position enables you to quickly establish a broad network in health economics.

Finally, you will teach in the education programmes at Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (about 15% of your time).

You are expected to have a master degree in economics, health economics, econometrics, or another relevant master degree. The position requires advanced quantitative analytical skills. Therefore, you need to have experience with quantitative research using a standard statistical software package (e.g. Stata or R). Moreover, you must have excellent English communication and writing skills. Since the main dataset is in Dutch, basic reading ability in Dutch – or being willing to acquire this skill – is desirable.

Fixed-term contract: 1.5 year, which will be extended with a second term of 2.5 years if the candidate performs well.

We offer an appointment as PhD student for a period of 1.5 year, which will be extended with a second term of 2.5 years if the candidate performs well. Remuneration will be according to the PhD scales set by the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU), and will range from € 2.325 per month in the first year to € 2.972 per month in the fourth year (gross amounts, in case of fulltime employment). The EUR has attractive employment conditions, which include a holiday allowance of 8.0%, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% and up to 41 days paid time off. Substantial tax benefits apply to non-Dutch citizens, conditional on permission granted by the Dutch Tax Office. Applicants should have the right to work in the Netherlands for the duration of the contract.

Fulltime is considered to be 38 hours per week.

The starting date will be determined together with the candidate.

Erasmus University Rotterdam

The Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), named after Rotterdam-born humanist and theologian Erasmus, is a research university with a strong international orientation and a pronounced social focus, both in its education and research activities. On the lively, modern campus, more than 28.000 students and scholars of more than 100 nationalities are constantly encouraged to develop their talents and meet their ambition. Our more than 2700 scientists and employees work together with all our students to solve challenges faced by global society, drawing their inspiration from the consistently dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Rotterdam. The academic education offered at our faculties is intensive, engaging and strongly focused on practical application. We increasingly perform our research in multidisciplinary teams, which are closely interwoven with international networks. In terms of research impact and the quality of its degree programmes, EUR can compete with the foremost universities in Europe, which is reflected in its consistent top-100 position in most major universities rankings. Erasmus University Rotterdam’s key values are daring, curiosity, social involvement, breaking new ground and striving for success http://www.eur.nl

Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management

Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM) is part of Erasmus University Rotterdam and is responsible for a bachelor and four master programs on policy and management in healthcare, which serve 1000 students. In addition, research is being done on three major research themes: ‘competition and regulation in healthcare’, ‘quality and efficiency in healthcare’ and ‘healthcare management’. ESHPM has about 175 employees. The position offered is within the Health Economics group.