I am a postdoctoral researcher at CREED, the Center for Research in Experimental Economics and political Decision making of the University of Amsterdam. My main interests are experimental economics and behavioral economics.
I have a research master in Neuroeconomics from Maastricht University, with a particular focus on experimental economics, behavioral economics and virtual reality. My PhD supervisors are Wouter Botzen and Julia Blasch. My PhD project aimed to improve individual flood-preparedness by finding the determinants of individual decisions to invest in flood damage mitigation measures. I expect to defend my dissertation in Spring 2021.
Currently, I am working in the team of Shaul Shalvi on a project studying the importance of trust in the sharing economy.
PhD in Behavioral Economics, 2021 (expected)
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
MSc in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience (Research Master, Neuroeconomics), 2016
Maastricht University
BSc in Liberal Arts & Sciences, 2014
Tilburg University
For decades, meteorologists and governments have been warning communities in coastal areas for an imminent tropical cyclone (TC) using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (SSHWS). The SSHWS categorizes a TC based on its maximum wind speed, and is used in defining evacuation strategies and humanitarian response. However, the SSHWS considers only the wind hazard of a TC, whereas a TC can also cause severe conditions through its high storm surges and extreme rainfall, triggering coastal and inland flooding. Consequently, the SSHWS fails to mirror the TC’s total severity. This becomes evident when looking at past events such as Hurricane Harvey (2017), which was classified as a Tropical Storm while it caused widespread flooding in the Houston (TX) area, with precipitation totals exceeding 1.5 m. Without including storm surge and rainfall information, adequate risk communication with the SSHWS can be challenging, as the public can (mistakenly) perceive a low-category TC as a low-risk TC. To overcome this, we propose the new Tropical Cyclone Severity Scale (TCSS) that includes all three major TC hazards in its classification. The new scale preserves the categorization as used in the SSHWS, to maintain familiarity amongst the general public. In addition, we extend the scale with a Category 6, to support communication about the most extreme TCs with multiple hazards. The TCSS is designed to be applied on a local-scale, hereby supporting local-scale risk communication efforts and evacuation strategies prior to a TC landfall. The scale can be used for risk communication on both the total TC risk and on the categories of the separate hazards, which can be valuable especially in cases when one hazard is the predominant risk factor, such as excess rainfall triggering flooding.
Flooding is one of the most significant natural disasters worldwide. Nevertheless, voluntary take-up of individual damage reduction measures is low. A potential explanation is that flood risk perceptions of individual homeowners are below objective estimates of flood risk, which may imply that they underestimate the flood risk and the damage that can be avoided by damage reduction measures. The aim of this paper is to assess possible flood risk misperceptions of floodplain residents in the Netherlands, and to offer insights into factors that are related with under- or overestimation of perceived flood risk. We analyzed survey data of 1848 homeowners in the Dutch river delta and examine how perceptions of flood probability and damage relate to objective risk assessments, such as safety standards of dikes, as well as heuristics, including the availability heuristic and the affect heuristic. Results show that many Dutch floodplain inhabitants significantly overestimate the probability, but underestimate the maximum expected water level of a flood. We further observe that many respondents apply the availability heuristic. Open access PDF at publisher
After the virtual flood. Virtual reality experiment on flooding experiences with Wouter Botzen and Julia Blasch.
Individual Hurricane Preparedness During the COVID-19 Pandemic. With Wouter Botzen, Peter Robinson, Juan Zhang and Jeffrey Czajkowski.
Changing diets - Testing the impact of knowledge and information nudges on sustainable dietary choices. With Meike Morren, Julia Blasch and Žiga Malek.
All by myself? Testing descriptive social norm-nudges to increase flood preparedness among homeowners. With Wouter Botzen, Julia Blasch, Elissa Kranzler and Howard Kunreuther.