dr. Ben Vollaard

Bio

Ben Vollaard (Ph.D. RAND Graduate School) is associate professor at the Economics Department of Tilburg University, where he has been on the faculty since 2008. As of 2019, he leads the Fraud Detection and Prevention Lab.

CV download (updated April 2022). For the latest, see my Personal homepage.

Expertise

My research revolves around the question how to prevent illegal behavior, corporate fraud in particular, in a (cost)effective manner. When studying this question, I focus on how situational factors affect behavior. For instance, an analysis of the universe of Coast Guard surveillance flights shows that if shipping crews discharge oily substances into the sea, they do so after sunset - when they are sure not to be convicted in court even when caught. In a completely different context, and based on a long-running field experiment at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, I show that people are less likely to soil the street when exposed to light. 

Courses

• Methods: Econometrics 1
• Methods: Econometrics 2

Highlights

Crowdsourcing project 'De Wilde Tuin' with NRC Handelsblad, funded by KNAW (started in March 2022).

Interviewed by newspaper De Volkskrant about the above-mentioned crowdsourcing project (March 2022).

Interviewed by newspaper Trouw about my research into illegal discharges from shipping: news item, background article (March 2022).

Interviewed by newspaper NRC Handelsblad for this year's Nobel prizes in economics (October 2021).

Recent publications

1. Punishment to promote prosocial behavior: A field experiment

   Vollaard, B., & van Soest, D. (2024). Punishment to promote prosocial behavior: A field experiment. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 124, Article 102899.

2. Unseen annihilation - Illegal fishing practices and nautical patrol

   Kastoryano, S., & Vollaard, B. (2023). Unseen annihilation: Illegal fishing practices and nautical patrol. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 122, Article 102881.

3. Nautical Patrol and Illegal Fishing Practices

   Kastoryano, S., & Vollaard, B. (2022). Nautical Patrol and Illegal Fishing Practices. (CentER Discussion Paper; Vol. 2022-016). CentER, Center for Economic Research.

4. Bias in expert product reviews

   Vollaard, B., & van Ours, J. C. (2022). Bias in expert product reviews. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 202, 105-118.

5. The dynamics of crime risk perceptions

   Salm, M., & Vollaard, B. (2021). The dynamics of crime risk perceptions. American Law and Economics Review, 23(2), 520-561.