Erik Verhoef

Erik Verhoef is a Full Professor in Spatial Economics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) and a Research Fellow at Tinbergen Institute. He served as Vice Research Dean of the School of Business and Economics and Head of the Department of Spatial Economics (2012–2024). His PhD (1996) and Master's (1991) in Economics were completed at VU Amsterdam and University of Groningen, respectively.

His research explores efficiency and equity in spatial externalities regulation, focusing on transport and urban systems. Key themes include second-best regulation, network analysis, behavioral modeling, industrial organization in networks, and policy evaluation. His work integrates welfare, micro-, transport-, urban-, and environmental economics.

Recent articles (2025) focus on urban mobility feasibility, congestion pricing, dynamic traffic modeling, and infrastructure investment critiques. They collectively address transport policy optimization under uncertainty, behavioral heterogeneity, and sustainable urban transitions.

Scientific Awards & Grants:

• ERC Advanced Grant (€2M+) for OPTION project
• Elected Fellow, Regional Science Association International
• Multiple best paper prizes (RSUE, ITEA, BIVEC-GIBET)
• Coordinator of EU projects: U-Pass, IP-Suntan, Breathe
• Lead of Dutch consortia: Mocolodo, U-Smile, i-PriSM

Supervised 23 PhD theses and leads the Spatial Economics research group. Current projects include ENHANCE (sustainable travel in cities) and NWA Route (logistics innovation). Holds advisory roles at Dutch infrastructure councils and SWOV.