Ph.D. positions in Economics and Public Finance

Erasmus University Rotterdam (Netherlands)
The Erasmus University in Rotterdam in the Netherlands is looking for
Ph.D. students in economics. The Ph.D. students will be part of a
young research team, led by prof.dr. B. Jacobs and prof. dr. R.A. de
Mooij, which operates in the twilight zone of public finance,
macroeconomics, labour economics and applied policy analysis. The
research is not only scientifically relevant, but also has relevance
for economic policy and society at large. The group cooperates
intensively with the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy
Analysis, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Dutch Ministry
of Finance, the OECD and the European Commission. Research results are
also highly visible in the public policy debate. The research group
provides courses in economics of taxation, public finance and tax
policy at the BA, MA and PhD level to students in economics, fiscal
law and econometrics at Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Tinbergen
Institute. The ambition is to have a complete research group of about
15 talented, ambitious and young people working in public finance and
public policy in 4-5 years from now on. Multiple Ph.D. projects are
currently available. The following abstracts summarize the projects.

Abstract Ph.D. project 1 – An applied empirical analysis of capital
income tax reform in the Netherlands

In 2001, the Dutch government fundamentally reformed the income tax by
introducing a dual system in which labour and capital incomes are
taxed under different regimes. Especially the taxation of capital
income was a major novelty since the tax on the presumptive return is
unique in the world. The reform involves a quasi-natural experiment
and offers an opportunity to identify various behavioural and tax
elasticities. This research aims to estimate elasticities at a number
of these behavioural margins, such as the debt-equity decision, the
choice of legal form by small firms, the decision to retain or
distribute profits, and the investor portfolio choice between owner-
occupied housing, pensions and widely held shares. The estimated
elasticities will be used to calibrate an applied general equilibrium
model that we will develop and which focuses on the tax treatment of
capital income. The model allows for a comprehensive welfare analysis
of the tax reform of 2001. Moreover, it can be used to analyse
alternative tax-reforms such as the adoption of a consumption tax or a
comprehensive tax on capital income, which includes a tax on capital
gains.

Abstract Ph.D. project 2 – Skill formation in distorted labour markets

The main question of this research proposal is: how do modern welfare
states and distortions in labour markets affect the incentives for
skill formation over the lifecycle? Labour force participation, hours
worked, and later retirement raise the returns on human capital
investments from initial schooling and on-the-job training, and vice
versa. Less human capital investment results in lower wages, and
thereby reduces the economic incentives to participate in the labour
market, to work more hours, and to retire later. Extensive welfare
states and imperfections in labour markets could be important in
explaining weak labour market performance and, as a result, weak
incentives for skill formation. Labour market imperfections and
welfare state policies may also shift the wage profile over the
lifecycle, thereby affecting the incentives for training on-the-job
and (early) retirement. Analytically tractable general equilibrium
models will be developed to study the interactions between distorted
labour markets and skill formation. Various labour market
imperfections (caused by unions, search frictions, efficiency wages,
or insiders-outsiders) and welfare state policies (education policy,
minimum wages, wage subsidies, labour market protection legislation,
tax policy, unemployment insurance, retirement schemes) will be
analysed. The policy relevance of this project is high. Firstly,
skills are crucial determinants of labour productivity and income.
Secondly, skill-biased labour demand shifts jeopardise the earnings
and employment prospects of the low skilled and increase income
inequality. Thirdly, low labour force participation rates of older
workers are worrisome in light of ageing populations.

Extensive descriptions of the research proposals can be found at
www.xs4all.nl/~jacobs73.

Successful applicants will be offered a 4-year position at Erasmus
University. During the first year Ph.D. students are required to
participate in the M.Phil. program in economics of the Tinbergen
Institute to upgrade their skills in macroeconomics, microeconomics
and econometrics. For more information, visit www.tinbergen. nl. From
the second-fourth years, a Ph.D. thesis will be written on one of the
topics mentioned below. Prof.dr. B. Jacobs and prof. dr. R.A. de Mooij
will be supervising the research process. Ph.D. students have the
freedom to actively pursue their research interests.

Research results will be presented in research seminars at the
Tinbergen Institute, Erasmus University, other universities in Europe,
and international workshops and conferences (such as the annual
conference of the International Institute for Public Finance). Policy-
relevant research outcomes will be presented in the seminar series of
the European Commission (e.g. the series of DG Economic and Financial
affairs and DG Taxation), CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy
Analysis and the Ministry of Finance.

Requirements

Applicants should have successfully completed a master's degree (or
equivalent) and have excellent analytical skills. Moreover, they
should have a strong command of English. Especially graduates in
econometrics or economics with a specialization in general economics
are invited to apply. However, we also welcome graduates with a
background in mathematics, statistics, physics, chemistry, information
sciences, biology, engineering, or philosophy. We require that
applicants have a genuine interest in economics, economic policy,
politics or society at large.

Contract and salary

The initial contract will be for 1.5 years. The terms of the contract
are in accordance with the Collective Agreement on Labour Conditions
for Netherlands Universities (CAO NU). If you have sufficiently proven
your abilities, the temporary contract will be renewed for a further
2.5 years. The salary is in accordance with the Promovendus scale of
CAO NU, which corresponds to a gross monthly salary of € 2,000.00 for
a full-time (i.e. 38 hours per week) appointment in the first year
through to € 2,558.00 in the fourth and final year.

Application

Interested applicants can send a letter that motivates their
application before January 15, 2009 by email to hamers@few.eur. nl or
by mail to Astrid Hamers, FEI BV, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus
University Rotterdam, PO box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
They should also include an up-to-date CV and grading lists. If
available, research papers (at most two) and teaching evaluations
should be included as well.

More information can be obtained from prof.dr. B. Jacobs
(bjacobs@few.eur.nl, homepage: www.xs4all.nl/~jacobs73) prof.dr. R.A.
de Mooij (demooij@few.eur.nl, homepage: people.few.eur.nl/demooij) .

JEL Classification( s): D, E, H, I, J

Application has to be received by 15. January 2009.

Postdoc Fellowships at Politecnico di Torino, Italy

DEADLINE: 29th of January 2009

Politecnico is looking for Italian and foreign young post-doctoral
researchers (up to 33 years old) and Italian and foreign researchers
with at least two years of experience in foreign research labs and
presently employed abroad.

AVAILABLE POSITIONS

Two years fellowships for junior researchers
Two years fellowships for senior Italian researchers working abroad
Two years fellowships for foreign senior researchers

HOW TO APPLY

http://www.swas.polito.it/services/fellowship

PhD Scholarships Available in mobile information sharing

Applications are invited for PhD scholarships in mobile information sharing
research at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information at Nanyang
Technological University (Singapore). Successful candidates will have the
opportunity to work on a cutting-edge mobile interactive digital media
project that involves gameplay and information sharing. Potential areas of
research include:

* Mobile game design and development for information sharing
* User interface design and evaluation
* Modeling mobile information seeking
* Mobile data management
* Information retrieval and mining techniques
* Mobility and management of information systems
* Social, psychological and organizational impact studies

Ideal candidates would have a good Master's degree in computer science,
information systems, information science, or fields relevant to the above
research areas. They should have good communication skills in English and be
motivated to carry out research in one or more of the above areas. They
should also preferably have some mobile applications development and/or data
analysis experience. GRE scores are also required for candidates whose
degrees are not awarded from a Singapore-based university.

Scholarships are available for the August 2009 semester. Successful
candidates will be awarded a four-year scholarship plus a monthly stipend.
For more information about the graduate programs at the Wee Kim Wee School
of Communication & Information, please visit:
http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/sci/graduate/grad_programmes.html

Potential applicants should send a CV with publication list and academic
transcripts to Dr Dion Goh at ashlgoh@ntu.edu.sg.

============ ========= ========= ========= ===
Dion Goh
Associate Professor
Director, MSc Information Systems Program
Division of Information Studies
School of Communication and Information
Nanyang Technological University
31 Nanyang Link
Singapore 637718

Phone: (65) 6790-6290
Fax: (65) 6791-5214
Email: ashlgoh@ntu.edu.sg
URL: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/ashlgoh/

PhD Scholarships at University of Luebeck, Germany

The Graduate School of Computing in Medicine and Life Sciences
(funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinsch aft, DFG, and the German
Government within the German university excellence program) at
Luebeck University is now offering PhD scholarships for the
following 16 projects:

1. Correction of Susceptibility caused Distortions in Functional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging http://www.gradschool.uni-luebeck.de/?q=node/13&expand=I1

2.Endoscopic Optical Coherence Tomography in the Deep Brain http://www.gradschool.uni-luebeck.de/?q=node/13&expand=I1

3. Transcranial sonography (TCS) in monogenic forms of Parkinsonism

4. Stroke Rehabilitation Robot

5. Parallel mode of action control: from human studies to intelligent
robotic interfaces

6. Cardiac pacemaker localization

7. Brain Modelling

8. Robot assisted navigation guided OCT operating microscope

9. Definition of cortical networks for the control of eye and hand
movements

10. 3-dimensional kinematic principles of eye, head and limb
movements

11. Interfaces based on EEG, ECoG and DBS

12. Inhibitor Design

13. Efficient Methods of Exact Solutions of Complex Problems in
Molecular
Biology

14. Synaptic Plasticity: Regulatory Mechanisms in Receptor
Trafficking

15. Computational analysis of RNA structure

16. Analysis of adult stem cells by computer vision

Please visit our website for more detailed descriptions of the
projects.

PhD scholarships amount to 1250 Euros per month. The application
deadline is January 15, 2009. Students with a master's degree (or
its equivalent) in computer science, mathematics or engineering are
invited to apply for admission. In certain cases, students must
submit, as part of their application, the results of one of the
acknowledged language tests to prove their English proficiency.

For further information, please visit our website at
www.gradschool. uni-luebeck. de.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions via
email:

management@gradscho ol.uni-luebeck. de before sending your application.

Best wishes from Luebeck,
Prof.Dr.-Ing.Achim Schweikard

University of Luebeck
Graduate School for Computing in Medicine and Life Sciences
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Achim Schweikard
Ratzeburger Allee 160
23538 Luebeck
Germany

PhD position in pediatrics

The Cystic Fibrosis / Pulmonary Research Group at the Department of Pediatrics III, Pediatric Pulmonology and Cystic Fibrosis Center, University of Heidelberg offers a position for a highly motivated and talented PhD Graduate Student (naturwissenschaftl . Doktorand/in,
TV-L13/2) for a research project investigating the role of microRNAs in the pathogenesis and as potential therapeutic targets for chronic obstructive lung disease in an established transgenic mouse model (Mall et al. Nature Medicine 2004 10:487-93).

This project is funded by the „Frontier“ innovation fund of the Excellence Initiative of the University of Heidelberg and is embedded within the inspiring environment of the Molecular Medicine Partenership Unit (MMPU) of the University of Heidelberg and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Applicants must hold a Master’s degree (‘Diplom’) in a Life Science related area (e.g. Biology or Biochemistry) . Prior experience in molecular and cell biology techniques, cell culture and animal handling are desirable.

Please send your CV, a short letter indicating prior research / future goals and names of three references to:

PD Dr. Marcus Mall, M.D.
Group Leader and Head of Cystic Fibrosis Center
Department of Pediatrics III
Pediatric Pulmonology and Cystic Fibrosis Center
University of Heidelberg
Im Neuenheimer Feld 350
D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Email: Marcus.Mall@med.uni-heidelberg.de