Felix Ward obtains NWO Open Competition SSH XS grant
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded an XS grant to Research Fellow Felix Ward (Erasmus University Rotterdam). Ward will receive a grant of up to 50,000 euro.
Ward's project, titled ‘Dangerous Bank Debt Bias’ explores whether the ability of banks to deduct interest payments on debt from their taxable income leads them to incur more debt and therefore imperil the economy’s financial stability. The project will develop a new long-term dataset to examine how the tax advantage of debt has evolved from its origins in the late 19th century to the present. The findings will reveal how tax systems have contributed to rising bank debt over the past 150 years and will offer key insights for policymakers to enhance the economy’s financial stability. View all granted projects of this round.
About the NWO Open Competition SSH-XS grants
In 2022, the NWO introduced the NWO Open Competition SSH Call, which offers three distinct types of grants. Among these, the XS grant is specifically intended to encourage curiosity-driven and bold research that involves the relatively rapid exploration of a promising idea within a maximum of 12 months. These research projects are expected to be groundbreaking, embracing a high risk, high-reward approach. The primary goal is for each project to make a significant contribution to the progress of scientific knowledge.
About Felix Ward and his research
Felix Ward is an Associate Professor at the department of Economics at the Erasmus School of Economics. He holds a PhD from the University of Bonn, Germany. Felix is an applied macroeconomist with research interests in international macroeconomics, monetary economics, and economic history.