Free University Amsterdam


Jos van Ommeren (1966) is Professor of Urban Economics at the VU University. He studied Econometrics at the London School of Economics, United Kingdom and the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands and received his PhD in Economics at the VU University Amsterdam in 1996. His main interests are in the economic analysis of demand and supply in transport markets, optimal pricing of transport infrastructure, urban policy and inland shipping. He furthermore concentrates on the analysis of agglomeration, the economic analysis of parking markets as well as the European policies regarding company car taxation.

He has worked at the Dutch Central Bank, the Netherlands, the European University Institute, Italy, University College London, United Kingdom, Cranfield University, United Kingdom, Frisch Centre, Norway. Since 2001 he has been employed at the VU University Amsterdam. He is a fellow of the Tinbergen Institute. With 2500 citations, he belongs to the top of the urban/transport economics profession. He has cooperated in several successful consortia nationally and internationally, and has been influential in a range of policies in the Netherlands and in the EU including taxation of company cars.

The Department of Spatial Economics is engaged in many economic problems in which space plays a prominent role. The department of Spatial Economics offers insights and applications from a multi-disciplinary perspective. The daily supervision for subproject 5 will be in the hands of assistant professor Hans Koster, the actual work will be carried out by Ostermeijer.