Thomas de Graaff

Thomas de Graaff is an Associate Professor in the Department of Spatial Economics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, affiliated with the School of Business and Economics and Tinbergen Institute. He holds a Master's and PhD in econometrics and spatial economics from VU Amsterdam. His research focuses on empirical spatial economics, particularly socio-economic behavior related to migration, tourism, commuting, and agglomeration economies. He emphasizes reproducibility, Bayesian multilevel models, and gravity models.

Key research areas include meta-analyses of agglomeration externalities, crime social interactions, and urban overhead effects. He has published widely on topics such as ethnic diversity valuation, telework substitution effects, and housing market dynamics. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to urban sustainability and economic growth.

Teaching includes courses on spatial econometrics, network analysis, and research design. He has supervised three PhD theses and contributed datasets to studies on agglomeration economies. Collaborations span global institutions, with recent projects in New Zealand and Europe.