Abstract
After leaving secondary school, Frederick (Rick) van der Ploeg attended the University of Sussex where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1977, and then attended Kings College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a doctorate in economics in 1981. From 1979 to 1983 Mr Van der Ploeg worked as a research officer at the University of Cambridge, after which he lectured at the London School of Economics until 1988. Between 1985 and 1991 he also held the post of research professor of quantitative economics at the University of Tilburg and professor of economics at the European University Institute in Florence. In 1991 he was appointed professor of economics at the University of Amsterdam. Mr Van der Ploeg has also been visiting professor at universities in the UK, USA, the Czech Republic, ltaly and Austria. Mr Van der Ploeg has been a member of the board of the Wiardi Beckman Foundation and sat in the party executive of the Labour Party (PvdA) from 1992 on. From 1994 to 1998 he was a member of the Lower House of the States General. His other activities have included being a columnist, a research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London, a member of the Council of the European Economic Association, the board of the "Mug met de gouden tand" theatre company and the supervisory board of the Pakhoed group, and consultant to the Advisory Council on Government Policy (WRR), the European Commission and the OECD. On 3 August 1998 Mr Van der Ploeg was appointed State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science in the second Kok government.
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