I am a Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick.

My research focuses on the economics of the food system and its effects on health and the environment. In a recent paper, we document that consumers in deprived areas face higher relative prices of fruit and vegetables and argue that remedying this inefficiency with a subsidy would close a third of the gap between actual and recommended intakes of fruit and vegetables. I am a co-investigator on several grant consortia exploring interventions to make food purchasing healthier and more sustainable, particularly in the digital domain (online grocery shopping, food deliveries).
This research was recently profiled by the University.

My earlier research interests lay in the intersection of labor and macroeconomics, addressing questions why there is a mismatch between the skills that employers are looking for and the skills that workers have, why so many workers lose their jobs in a recession and why it takes such a long time before the unemployment rate goes down after the economy recovers.

For more information, including publications, working papers, data, and programmes, please see my personal website at thijsvanrens.com.

Curriculum Vitae