Natascha Van Der Zwan
Biographic Data
| ID | 261403 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Natascha Van Der Zwan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Natascha |
| FAMILY NAME | Van Der Zwan |
| SIGNATURE | VAN DER ZWAN N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Leiden University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7967-0757 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 644 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Turning ecology into economy
Biodiversity is emerging as a material issue for institutional investors, driven by a growing concern for nature-related risks. This presents a challenge to the financial sector as institutional investors require metrics and tools to develop their investment strategies. Yet, biodiversity is not easily captured in standardized metrics. Therefore, new actors have emerged as knowledge providers. A question that remains unexamined is: which actors pr…
Puzzling, powering, profiting
Constructions, cleavages, and complementarities
The complexities and contradictions of ‘green’ finance demand multidimensional perspectives in critical socioeconomic research. Current studies often remain fragmented, focusing either on global financial structures or micro-level practices without fully integrating both. This essay advocates for a more integrated analytical approach, employing three components: constructions, cleavages, and complementarities. At the micro-level, green finance is…
How middle managers perceive and articulate the discrepancy between socio-health service delivery goals and practice
Social services are an increasingly important part of the welfare state. According to existing scholarship, services should be preventative, tailored and complementary. Yet, in practice, these service delivery preconditions or goals are often found lacking. Managers in street-level organisations can influence this discrepancy, by either alleviating or further enhancing it. That is the issue we explore, by asking how the discrepancy between formal…
Asymmetric autonomy
Pension funds occupy a special position in the financial system: their long-term investment orientation and social outlook have led to calls for pension investment for purposes beyond the provision of retirement income. Scholars of financialization have questioned the possibilities to mobilize pension assets for other (e.g. social or environmental) goals by pointing to the constraining power of financial intermediaries. This article explores pote…
From Straight Lines to Twists and Turns
Despite welfare state expansion in liberal democracies during the 20th century, health inequalities between socio-economic groups persist. Understanding individuals' lived experiences can inform policy for reducing unequal health outcomes in these lives. We build on Fundamental Cause Theory (FCT), which posits that low socio-economic status is the fundamental cause of health problems in (later) life. We argue that this theory is incomplete in dev…
Living together and taking care of each other
Financialization and assetization
Despite significant overlap, scholarship often distinguishes the concepts of financialization and assetization. While there are historical, ontological and conceptual reasons for this distinction, we argue that this may limit both perspectives’ analytical potential. In this paper, we develop a shared research agenda that brings together analytical strengths and core insights of both perspectives. We propose to use three notions of financial power…
Health and the social investment state
This paper calls on social policy scholars to approach health differently in their research. Our goal is to bring core insights from social epidemiology into conversation with welfare state and social policy research. We argue that the social investment framework has the most potential for this integration. The objective of social investment policies is to keep modern welfare states sustainable through high employment and strong human capital. Th…
Sustaining the unsustainable? The political sustainability of pensions in Finland and the Netherlands
What makes a pension scheme sustainable? Most answers to this question have revolved around expert assessments of pension schemes’ affordability or adequacy. This study shifts focus from the financial or social sustainability of pension scheme designs to their political sustainability. Political sustainability refers to policymakers’ ability and willingness to sustain pension schemes in the face of perceived challenges. We seek to fill a key rese…
Dennie Oude Nijhuis, Religion, Class, and the Postwar Development of the Dutch Welfare State
TSEG (Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis) - The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History, is het Nederlands-Vlaamse vaktijdschrift op het gebied van de sociale en economische geschiedenis
Modelos de financiarización de las pensiones en cuatro estados de bienestar europeos
Este artículo analiza la financiarización de las pensiones en cuatro estados de bienestar europeos: el Reino Unido, Alemania, los Países Bajos y Suecia. En estos estados de bienestar, los mercados y actores financieros se han vuelto cada vez más importantes en la provisión de las pensiones. La financiarización de las pensiones es un fenómeno varia-do, que implica cambios en el mecanismo de financiación, el diseño del plan, la gestión financiera y…
Activating the Research Methods Curriculum
The blended flipped classroom is a partially online, partially offline course to teach social science research methods. Online, students watch video lectures, do readings, and complete short exercises to acquire basic knowledge of research methodologies and academic skills. Being set up modularly, the online environment offers flexibility regarding not only when to study but also what to study: students choose the methods they find useful for the…
New approaches to political economy
The discussion on 'New Approaches to Political Economy (PE)' gives us a state-of-the-art overview of the main theoretical and conceptual developments within the concept of political economy. Thereby, it invites us to broaden our knowledge regarding manifold novel approaches, which make use of more complex methods to study the less stable, less predictable, but faster changing realities of smaller or bigger geographical regions. In this discussion…
Financialisation and the Pension System
Financialisation and the Pension System: Lessons from the United States and the Netherlands The articles explores the financialisation of private pensions in the United States and the Netherlands. It proposes two distinct arguments. First, the article shows that both the American and the Dutch pension systems stand out internationally for their high degrees of capitalisation and the absence of substantive investment restrictions for pension funds…
Investment preferences and patient capital
In comparative political economy, the patience of capital investment has often been explained with the political activity of stakeholders. Such scholarship attributes investment preferences to either set assumptions about what various actors are likely to want from their pension systems or to macro-level institutional factors. Comparing the preferences of business and labor actors in the occupational pension systems in Finland, the Netherlands, a…
Making sense of financialization
Since the early 2000s, scholars from a variety of disciplines have used the concept of financialization to describe a host of structural changes in the advanced political economies. Studies of financialization interrogate how an increasingly autonomous realm of global finance has altered the underlying logics of the industrial economy and the inner workings of democratic society. This paper evaluates the insights of more than a decade of scholars…
(Dis-)Owning the Corporation
This article focuses on the experimentation with shareholder activism by employee representatives in several large German corporations. I argue that these experiments are a manifestation of a new politics of solidarity that has emerged in the wake of the financialisation process in Germany. What unites the employee-shareholder activists is a strong rejection of short-term shareholder value maximisation, particularly as it affects the corporation'…
Featured reviews
Making sense of financialization
Since the early 2000s, scholars from a variety of disciplines have used the concept of financialization to describe a host of structural changes in the advanced political economies. Studies of financialization interrogate how an increasingly autonomous realm of global finance has altered the underlying logics of the industrial economy and the inner workings of democratic society. This paper evaluates the insights of more than a decade of scholars…
New approaches to political economy
The discussion on 'New Approaches to Political Economy (PE)' gives us a state-of-the-art overview of the main theoretical and conceptual developments within the concept of political economy. Thereby, it invites us to broaden our knowledge regarding manifold novel approaches, which make use of more complex methods to study the less stable, less predictable, but faster changing realities of smaller or bigger geographical regions. In this discussion…
Financialization and assetization
Despite significant overlap, scholarship often distinguishes the concepts of financialization and assetization. While there are historical, ontological and conceptual reasons for this distinction, we argue that this may limit both perspectives’ analytical potential. In this paper, we develop a shared research agenda that brings together analytical strengths and core insights of both perspectives. We propose to use three notions of financial power…
Investment preferences and patient capital
In comparative political economy, the patience of capital investment has often been explained with the political activity of stakeholders. Such scholarship attributes investment preferences to either set assumptions about what various actors are likely to want from their pension systems or to macro-level institutional factors. Comparing the preferences of business and labor actors in the occupational pension systems in Finland, the Netherlands, a…
Financialisation and the Pension System
Financialisation and the Pension System: Lessons from the United States and the Netherlands The articles explores the financialisation of private pensions in the United States and the Netherlands. It proposes two distinct arguments. First, the article shows that both the American and the Dutch pension systems stand out internationally for their high degrees of capitalisation and the absence of substantive investment restrictions for pension funds…
Modelos de financiarización de las pensiones en cuatro estados de bienestar europeos
Este artículo analiza la financiarización de las pensiones en cuatro estados de bienestar europeos: el Reino Unido, Alemania, los Países Bajos y Suecia. En estos estados de bienestar, los mercados y actores financieros se han vuelto cada vez más importantes en la provisión de las pensiones. La financiarización de las pensiones es un fenómeno varia-do, que implica cambios en el mecanismo de financiación, el diseño del plan, la gestión financiera y…
Puzzling, powering, profiting
Health and the social investment state
This paper calls on social policy scholars to approach health differently in their research. Our goal is to bring core insights from social epidemiology into conversation with welfare state and social policy research. We argue that the social investment framework has the most potential for this integration. The objective of social investment policies is to keep modern welfare states sustainable through high employment and strong human capital. Th…
Sustaining the unsustainable? The political sustainability of pensions in Finland and the Netherlands
What makes a pension scheme sustainable? Most answers to this question have revolved around expert assessments of pension schemes’ affordability or adequacy. This study shifts focus from the financial or social sustainability of pension scheme designs to their political sustainability. Political sustainability refers to policymakers’ ability and willingness to sustain pension schemes in the face of perceived challenges. We seek to fill a key rese…
Asymmetric autonomy
Pension funds occupy a special position in the financial system: their long-term investment orientation and social outlook have led to calls for pension investment for purposes beyond the provision of retirement income. Scholars of financialization have questioned the possibilities to mobilize pension assets for other (e.g. social or environmental) goals by pointing to the constraining power of financial intermediaries. This article explores pote…
From Straight Lines to Twists and Turns
Despite welfare state expansion in liberal democracies during the 20th century, health inequalities between socio-economic groups persist. Understanding individuals' lived experiences can inform policy for reducing unequal health outcomes in these lives. We build on Fundamental Cause Theory (FCT), which posits that low socio-economic status is the fundamental cause of health problems in (later) life. We argue that this theory is incomplete in dev…
(Dis-)Owning the Corporation
This article focuses on the experimentation with shareholder activism by employee representatives in several large German corporations. I argue that these experiments are a manifestation of a new politics of solidarity that has emerged in the wake of the financialisation process in Germany. What unites the employee-shareholder activists is a strong rejection of short-term shareholder value maximisation, particularly as it affects the corporation'…
Featured reviews
(Dis-)Owning the Corporation
This article focuses on the experimentation with shareholder activism by employee representatives in several large German corporations. I argue that these experiments are a manifestation of a new politics of solidarity that has emerged in the wake of the financialisation process in Germany. What unites the employee-shareholder activists is a strong rejection of short-term shareholder value maximisation, particularly as it affects the corporation'…
Making sense of financialization
Since the early 2000s, scholars from a variety of disciplines have used the concept of financialization to describe a host of structural changes in the advanced political economies. Studies of financialization interrogate how an increasingly autonomous realm of global finance has altered the underlying logics of the industrial economy and the inner workings of democratic society. This paper evaluates the insights of more than a decade of scholars…
Investment preferences and patient capital
In comparative political economy, the patience of capital investment has often been explained with the political activity of stakeholders. Such scholarship attributes investment preferences to either set assumptions about what various actors are likely to want from their pension systems or to macro-level institutional factors. Comparing the preferences of business and labor actors in the occupational pension systems in Finland, the Netherlands, a…
Financialisation and the Pension System
Financialisation and the Pension System: Lessons from the United States and the Netherlands The articles explores the financialisation of private pensions in the United States and the Netherlands. It proposes two distinct arguments. First, the article shows that both the American and the Dutch pension systems stand out internationally for their high degrees of capitalisation and the absence of substantive investment restrictions for pension funds…
Activating the Research Methods Curriculum
The blended flipped classroom is a partially online, partially offline course to teach social science research methods. Online, students watch video lectures, do readings, and complete short exercises to acquire basic knowledge of research methodologies and academic skills. Being set up modularly, the online environment offers flexibility regarding not only when to study but also what to study: students choose the methods they find useful for the…
New approaches to political economy
The discussion on 'New Approaches to Political Economy (PE)' gives us a state-of-the-art overview of the main theoretical and conceptual developments within the concept of political economy. Thereby, it invites us to broaden our knowledge regarding manifold novel approaches, which make use of more complex methods to study the less stable, less predictable, but faster changing realities of smaller or bigger geographical regions. In this discussion…
Dennie Oude Nijhuis, Religion, Class, and the Postwar Development of the Dutch Welfare State
TSEG (Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis) - The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History, is het Nederlands-Vlaamse vaktijdschrift op het gebied van de sociale en economische geschiedenis
Modelos de financiarización de las pensiones en cuatro estados de bienestar europeos
Este artículo analiza la financiarización de las pensiones en cuatro estados de bienestar europeos: el Reino Unido, Alemania, los Países Bajos y Suecia. En estos estados de bienestar, los mercados y actores financieros se han vuelto cada vez más importantes en la provisión de las pensiones. La financiarización de las pensiones es un fenómeno varia-do, que implica cambios en el mecanismo de financiación, el diseño del plan, la gestión financiera y…
Sustaining the unsustainable? The political sustainability of pensions in Finland and the Netherlands
What makes a pension scheme sustainable? Most answers to this question have revolved around expert assessments of pension schemes’ affordability or adequacy. This study shifts focus from the financial or social sustainability of pension scheme designs to their political sustainability. Political sustainability refers to policymakers’ ability and willingness to sustain pension schemes in the face of perceived challenges. We seek to fill a key rese…
Health and the social investment state
This paper calls on social policy scholars to approach health differently in their research. Our goal is to bring core insights from social epidemiology into conversation with welfare state and social policy research. We argue that the social investment framework has the most potential for this integration. The objective of social investment policies is to keep modern welfare states sustainable through high employment and strong human capital. Th…
Living together and taking care of each other
Financialization and assetization
Despite significant overlap, scholarship often distinguishes the concepts of financialization and assetization. While there are historical, ontological and conceptual reasons for this distinction, we argue that this may limit both perspectives’ analytical potential. In this paper, we develop a shared research agenda that brings together analytical strengths and core insights of both perspectives. We propose to use three notions of financial power…
Puzzling, powering, profiting
Constructions, cleavages, and complementarities
The complexities and contradictions of ‘green’ finance demand multidimensional perspectives in critical socioeconomic research. Current studies often remain fragmented, focusing either on global financial structures or micro-level practices without fully integrating both. This essay advocates for a more integrated analytical approach, employing three components: constructions, cleavages, and complementarities. At the micro-level, green finance is…
How middle managers perceive and articulate the discrepancy between socio-health service delivery goals and practice
Social services are an increasingly important part of the welfare state. According to existing scholarship, services should be preventative, tailored and complementary. Yet, in practice, these service delivery preconditions or goals are often found lacking. Managers in street-level organisations can influence this discrepancy, by either alleviating or further enhancing it. That is the issue we explore, by asking how the discrepancy between formal…
Asymmetric autonomy
Pension funds occupy a special position in the financial system: their long-term investment orientation and social outlook have led to calls for pension investment for purposes beyond the provision of retirement income. Scholars of financialization have questioned the possibilities to mobilize pension assets for other (e.g. social or environmental) goals by pointing to the constraining power of financial intermediaries. This article explores pote…
From Straight Lines to Twists and Turns
Despite welfare state expansion in liberal democracies during the 20th century, health inequalities between socio-economic groups persist. Understanding individuals' lived experiences can inform policy for reducing unequal health outcomes in these lives. We build on Fundamental Cause Theory (FCT), which posits that low socio-economic status is the fundamental cause of health problems in (later) life. We argue that this theory is incomplete in dev…
Turning ecology into economy
Biodiversity is emerging as a material issue for institutional investors, driven by a growing concern for nature-related risks. This presents a challenge to the financial sector as institutional investors require metrics and tools to develop their investment strategies. Yet, biodiversity is not easily captured in standardized metrics. Therefore, new actors have emerged as knowledge providers. A question that remains unexamined is: which actors pr…
Political science (13 works) · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism (12 works) · Economics (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Corporate governance (7 works) · Finance (6 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Market economy (5 works)