Current PhD candidate Igo Dobbe of Erasmus School of Economics has won the Jan Brouwer Thesis Award 2026 in the category of Economics and Business Economics.
Dobbe receives the prize for his master’s thesis “Optimal Taxation of Risk-taking under Heterogeneous Risk Preferences,” written as part of the Research Master in Economics at Tinbergen Institute. The thesis was supervised by Associate Professor at Erasmus School of Economics Aart Gerritsen.
Wealth reform through risk profiles
Igo Dobbe is honoured to receive this prize: ‘It is a beautiful form of recognition! In my thesis I investigate whether it is desirable to differentiate taxes between different forms of wealth, or capital income, based on the associated risk profile. Using a theoretical model, I find that this is indeed the case when individuals differ in their risk preferences, and when these differences are correlated with their ability to earn income. In this way we can redistribute more resources, or attain the same level of redistribution against lower distortions. The result is relevant for the design of capital taxes all over the world, and therefore also for the reform of the Dutch "box 3"-tax.'
The Jan Brouwer Thesis Award is an annual prize awarded by the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW). It recognises outstanding master's theses in the humanities and social sciences. The award is part of the Jan Brouwer Fund and has been awarded since 2015.
About Igo Dobbe
Igo Dobbe is a first-year PhD candidate at Erasmus School of Economics, supervised by Associate Professors Aart Gerritsen and Kevin Spiritus. His research interests focus on public economics, with a particular emphasis on optimal taxation.
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The Jan Brouwer Thesis Award will be presented to Dobbe during an official ceremony on Friday, 6 February 2026, at KHMW in Haarlem, where he will also give a short presentation on his thesis.
For more information, please contact Ronald de Groot, Media & Public Relations Officer at Erasmus School of Economics: rdegroot@ese.eur.nl and +31 6 53 641 846.
