astronomy

Peter Nijkamp

Peter Nijkamp is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Peter Nijkamp rather than just read about it. In short: Peter Nijkamp (born 26 February 1946) is a Dutch economist, Professor of Regional Economics and Economic Geography at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a fellow of the Tinbergen Institute and President of the Governing Board of the Netherlands Research Council (NWO). He is ranked among the top 100 economists in the world according to IDEAS/RePEc, and is by far the most prolific economist.

Key takeaways

Peter Nijkamp belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Peter Nijkamp to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Peter Nijkamp from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Peter Nijkamp (born 26 February 1946) is a Dutch economist, Professor of Regional Economics and Economic Geography at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a fellow of the Tinbergen Institute and President of the Governing Board of the Netherlands Research Council (NWO). He is ranked among the top 100 economists in the world according to IDEAS/RePEc, and is by far the most prolific economist. Towards the end of his career at the VU university Nijkamp faced accusations of self-plagiarism and VU-appointed investigators have criticised referencing methods in some of his work.

Biography Born in Dalfsen, Overijssel, Nijkamp received his MSc in Econometrics and Regional Economics in 1970, and his PhD in Regional Economics in 1972, both from the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He has honorary doctorates from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the National Technical University of Athens. He is a winner of the Spinozapremie (1996), the European Prize in Regional Science, and Founder's Medal of the Regional Science Association International. He has been member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1987.

Controversy In 2013, the PhD thesis of one of his students was withdrawn one day before the scheduled defence. It consisted almost entirely of papers jointly written with Nijkamp. An internal investigation at the VU determined that some of these papers were recycled versions of yet earlier papers, with other co-authors, who had not been cited properly and this might be considered a form of plagiarism. The VU's rector, Frank van der Duyn Schouten, stated that Nijkamp had acted improperly but had not committed plagiarism. The student involved was allowed to adapt the thesis and the graduation ceremony took place in 2014. Following extensive press reports that claimed to have found cases of self-plagiarism in Nijkamp's work and an analysis by an anonymous whistleblower, the VU announced it would investigate Nijkamp's entire publishing record. It would also inquire with the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences on the boundary between self-plagiarism and "self-citation". The investigation committee under Jaap Zwemmer concluded in March 2015 that Nijkamp had re-used earlier publications in new papers on a certain scale, without proper referencing and the committee qualified this as "questionable research practice". The VU accepted some, but not all, of the committee conclusions. In a separate investigation the Dutch National Board on Research Integrity found Nijkamp "careless" but not in breach of scientific integrity. It also found university regulations on self-citation insufficient at the time. Nijkamp himself stated that the investigation committee's methodology and selection of publications is too thin a base for any conclusions. In May 2016, De Volkskrant reported that the Public Prosecuter sought to prosecute the anonymous complainant. The complainant was said to have significantly damaged the doctoral candidate’s career through defamation and slander. The prosecution service stated that it had sufficient indications to identify the anonymous complainant, partly based on suspicions raised by the doctoral candidate and IP addresses from which the complainant had sent various emails.

Publications His books include

Social Change and Sustainable Transport (with William Black, 2002, Indiana University Press) Public Facilities Planning (with Lili Kiminami and Kenneth Button, 2007, Edward Elgar) Spatial Dynamics, Networks and Modelling (with Aura Reggiani, 2006, Edward Elgar). His journal papers include

Second-best congestion pricing: The case of an untolled alternative (with Eric Verhoef and Piet Rietveld, 1996, Journal of Urban Economics), Qualitative multicriteria analysis for environmental management (with Giuseppe Munda and Piet Rietveld, 1994, Ecological Economics), Price and income elasticities in residential water demand (with Jasper Dalhuisen, Raymond Florax and Henri de Groot, 2003, Land Economics).

References

External links Media related to Peter Nijkamp at Wikimedia Commons Home page IDEAS/REPEC Google Scholar

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter Nijkamp

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter Nijkamp claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Peter Nijkamp before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Peter Nijkamp ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Peter Nijkamp

In research: Peter Nijkamp appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Peter Nijkamp in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Peter Nijkamp is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1946 births, Academic staff of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Dutch econometricians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter Nijkamp outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Peter Nijkamp in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Peter Nijkamp means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Peter Nijkamp out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter Nijkamp in simple terms?

Why does Peter Nijkamp matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Peter Nijkamp?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Peter Nijkamp.