prof. dr. D.J. (Dirk) Bezemer

I research & teach money, debt, banks, asset markets, and their impacts on macroeconomic outcomes - through institutions such as housing markets, stock markets, pension systems, the Eurozone and the global monetary architecture. Beyond my base in the Groningen Faculty of Economics and Business, I work with the Groningen Centre for Philosophy, Politics and Economics, the Sustainable Finance Lab. I am a member of the Politics of Money Network and on the editorial board of the European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies.

Currently I work on the following issues:

(a) In what ways does sustainble finance support the transition to sustainability?

Globally, assets and liabilities in financial and real estate markets have been increasing much faster than the economy. Research has established that there is 'Too Much Finance' (Arcand et al, 2015) for stable and equitable economic development. Is this different in the fast expanding sustainable finance markets? Which forms of sustainable finance are effective?

With Hans Stegeman I am developing a conceptual paper on the nature of money and finance and the linkages between the global financial ecosystem and ESG-compatible social and physical outcomes. With Chris Stumphius I undertake firm-level empirical research on the green bond market. With Roland Mees and Cynthia Williams I work on a Special Issue project bringing together ethical, legal and economic perspectives.

(b) What are the monetary and financial causes of the current housing affordability crisis?

Across developed countries, a severe housing affordability crisis has developed over the last decade. Housing construction is widely viewed as the solution. A housing shortage in a monetized society is about the balance between money (income and borrowing) to access housing and the price (purchase prices and rents) that provides access. These are all monetary and financial variables, influenced by monetary and financial policies such as interest rates, mortgage debt subsidies and loan-to-value norms (Duca et al, 2021). These are potentially part of the solution, rather than an exclusive focus on construction.

With Ruben Tarne I analyzed this in an agent-based model of the Dutch housing market. With Peter Merx and Herbert Kruitbosch I undertake empirical research with Dutch Land Registry data. I am also working on a european analysis using Eurostat cross-country credit flow data. with Dirk Schoenmaker I analyzed lending norms in ESB. Our group of Dutch housing market experts wrote a report for the government with comprehensive housing market policy suggestions.

(c) What are the causes of the growth of funded pension systems?

Pension funds have become major players in the global fiancial systems, thanks to their remarkable expansion since the 1980s. I undertook a case study of the Dutch pension system to explain this expansion, using newly digitized historical pension data, and I published on this in ESB. The ageing-based rationalization of investments is questioned based on demographic and pension fund data.Pension fund expansion in the era of managed money was financially necessary to cover investors’ remunerations, and was a conduit for the investment of strongly rising international inflows. The costs of the funded system were obscured by the academic discourse on pension funds in terms of neoclassical models, treating pensions as financial assets. Since academia and policy are part of the same epistemic community, this fed into a policy discourse centered on continuous worries and painful reforms, leaving no policy space for alternatives to funded pensions. Insights from this case study have wider applicability to economies with funded pension systems.

In the past I addressed the following topics.

(1) Bank credit allocation

I researched the 'debt shift' in bank credit across developed economies, away from production in nonfinancial business and towards financial and real estate asset markets. With a team of researchers, we built a a  disaggregated_credit_dataset_to2016.dta that is freely available here. Please cite as the source Does mortgage lending impact business credit? Evidence from a new disaggregated bank credit data set by Bezemer, D.,Samarina, A.&Zhang, L.,Apr-2020,In:Journal of Banking & Finance.113,24 p., 105760.

This research was supported by grants from the Institute for New Economic Thinking (2011,2013).

(2) Modelling and methodology

I published on macroeconomic models and how they do or do not incorporae finance. There are similarities to how models do or do not oncorporate climate change.

(3) The Dutch economy

I regularly contribute to the public debate on the Dutch economy in public talks, newspaper pieces and in de Tweede Kamer, all in Dutch.

In 2020 verscheen mijn boek Een land van kleine buffers - zie de korte video & boekpresentatie (11 september 2020), luister de podcast en lees de column.

In Economisch-Statistische Berichten publiceerde ik over hypotheekschulden en overheidsschulden, de financialisering van de Nederlandse economie, het pensioenstelsel, de woningmarkt, en reële inkomensontwikkeling.

Zie bijvoorbeeld ook:

- Kennisgesprek over de woningmarkt #1 op 23 februari

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zAAWqIneHY

- Rondetafelgesprek in de  Tweede Kamer over het Wetsvoorstel Wet Toekomst Pensioenen, 22 april 2022

https://debatgemist.tweedekamer.nl/node/28277

met de bijbehorende Position Paper

https://www.tweedekamer.nl/(...)etails?id=2022A02124

-'Zonder baksteen aan de bak' Wat is naast ‘bouwen, bouwen, bouwen’ nodig om de wooncrisis op te lossen? In gesprek met o.a. Dirk Bezemer en Erwin van der Krabben.  In Pakhuis de Zwijger.

https://dezwijger.nl/(...)-baksteen-aan-de-bak

Some older talks:

* Here is a four-part animated lecture on Debt: the Good, The Bad and the Ugly (launched May 2013)

*  In this April 2012 presentation (26 min) I set out my research program; Dutch viewers, see also this longer October 2012 lecture.

* See this documentary (2011, 8 min) and interview (2011, 10 min) on my research program.

Dutch readers, check out my columns at De Groene Amsterdammer.