BIGPROD’s official kick-off meeting took place at the Maastricht University Brussels Campus on 22 January 2020. The goal of the BIGPROD project is to extend existing econometric approaches to productivity, such as the Crepon-Duguet-Mairesse (CDM) model, with theoretically sound ‘Big data’ measures that are operationalised, validated through pilots and communicated to relevant stakeholders. This is achieved by uncovering the origins of the productivity slowdown in most Western economies. Ba...

"The vast network of scholars that the CatChain project brings is truly a great opportunity for anyone who participates in it, as it embraces a new economic thinking through the sharing of different experiences among the partner institutions and with other external parties." Dr. VGR Chandran Govindaraju, University of Malaya, Malaysia...

There is very little evidence that development aid and interventions affect migration decisions. The evidence we do have is mixed and often shows the opposite of the intended consequence. What does this mean for policymakers?...

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Our researchers regularly meet and interact with policymakers, not only in New York and Geneva at UN level but also in Brussels for EU events. In March 2019, Maria Tomai joined an event on the Circular Economy, where she was able to brief EU policymakers on the work done at UNU-MERIT, particularly the SITE4Society initiative. The Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference, led by the European Commission and European Economic and Social Committee, gathers researchers and policymakers every year to d...