My name is Anne Gielen and I am Professor of Labour Economics and Policy at Erasmus School of Economics.
When I was younger, I did not know what I wanted to be when I was older, but I did know what I did not want to be: a professor. My dad is a professor, which is why I always figured I wanted to do anything but become an academic. But here I am now, loving every second of it.
During my free time, I enjoy spending time with my two sons and husband. We take pleasure in going to coffee bars and drinking coffee. Also, I like to exercise a lot.
The best thing about being a researcher is that I can investigate things that I find interesting. I have a lot of freedom to define my own research agenda, which is great! Another great thing about my job is that I get so much inspiration from the interaction that I have with my colleagues and students. This makes the job worthwhile.
While I was doing my master’s thesis, my supervisor encouraged me to do a PhD. Initially, I was hesitant, but while writing my thesis, I learned that I very much enjoyed doing research. On top of that, I realised that I was quite young so I figured that doing a PhD would not do any harm. During the time that I was working on my PhD, I came to the conclusion that I did not want to leave academia and eventually wanted to pursue a career in this world.
Research
My research interests lie in the field of labour economics, health economics, and policy-relevant topics like education and social security. Basically, I like topics that affect your daily life and everyone’s life around you. One of the things I was researching was the question to what extent welfare dependency transmits from one generation to the next, so from parents to children. I started investigating this because we know that a lot of people are dependent on welfare. Welfare dependency is clearly a problem on its own, but the problem becomes even more concerning if welfare dependency is transmitted to future generations. The main finding from my research is that benefit receipt in one generation indeed has a direct impact on the well-being of the next generation, as measured by their welfare dependency, educational attainment, and health status. Moreover, these intergenerational links spread to even a third generation of grandchildren. Further investigation of intergenerational mobility and the underlying mechanisms in the coming years is key for the design of future-proof social support schemes.
Education
My research is also an inspiration in my teaching. I like to show students how issues that appear in the daily news can be studied with core economic theories and concepts. Moreover, I hope to inspire students that they can use the skills we teach them in our economics programs to address societal challenges and ultimately contribute to better outcomes in society.
Advice for students
If I have to think of one special piece of advice to give to students, it would be to do the things that are close to your heart. It is not a problem to work hard in your life; that actually can be a very nice thing to do. However, it is important to remember that working hard is only nice to do when you work on the things that are close to your heart and that you are really interested in.
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This item is part of Backbone Magazine 2024. The magazine can be found in E-building or Theil-building for free. Additionally, a digital copy is available here. Backbone is the corporate magazine of Erasmus School of Economics. Since 2014, it is published once a year. The magazine highlights successful and interesting alumni, covers the latest economic trends and research, and reports on news, events, student and alumni accomplishments.
