Microdata and policy evaluation at CPB

The role of microdata and policy evaluation has become more important over time at CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. CPB’s value added is the focus on the Dutch context: the data, the underlying institutions and the research topics. This chapter provides four examples of microeconometric research at the CPB: labour participation of parents with young children, tax shifting by small corporations, teacher quality and student achievement and performance-based pay in mental health care. In these examples, CPB combines the strengths of structural models and policy evaluation models with large datasets. Next to this research, the importance of good communication strategies to policy-makers is emphasized.