9 June 2021
Information – and especially the lack thereof – lies at the root of many issues in modern microeconomics. It is important to know how people deal with these issues. This largely determines how well markets work, but it also plays a role in many other contexts, such as within companies and in the outcomes of political processes.
Van de Ven is a behavioural economist who focuses on experimental economics and applied microeconomic theory, as well as on topics at the interface between psychology and economics. As a professor in the new chair of Information, Communication, and Strategic Interaction, he will also be focusing on issues from the field of behavioural economics, with an emphasis on communication. This work specifically concerns the exchange of information in strategic interactions. In his research, which will largely take place in the recently established Communication Lab at the Amsterdam Center for Behavioral Change, Van de Ven will be using various theoretical models and experimental methods. The aim is to gain a better understanding of how information is used strategically, while also examining how this influences the behaviour of others. The chair is part of the faculty’s Microeconomics department.
In addition to conducting research, Van de Ven teaches both Bachelor’s and (research) Master’s students at the Amsterdam School of Economics, and supervises students writing their Master's theses. He also coordinates the Managerial Economics and Strategy track of the Master’s in Business Economics.
Van de Ven has worked at the UvA since 2006, as a research fellow at the Amsterdam Center for Law and Economics and as an assistant professor and senior lecturer at the Amsterdam School of Economics. He has also been a research fellow at the interuniversity Tinbergen Institute since 2011. Van de Ven previously worked as a visiting researcher at various international universities, including the University of California San Diego and the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. He obtained his PhD cum laude from Tilburg University in 2003 with the thesis titled Psychological Sentiments and Economic Behaviour.