Background
VANDERKAMP, John was born in 1934 in Aalten, The Netherlands.
VANDERKAMP, John was born in 1934 in Aalten, The Netherlands.
BEcSc (Candidaats) Free University, Amsterdam, 1957. Master of Business Administration University Toronto, 1959. Doctor of Philosophy London School of Economies and Political Science, London, United Kingdom, 1964.
Economics, Research Department Bank Canada, Ottawa, 1959-1962. Association Professor, University British Columbia, 1964-1971. Visiting, University Essex, 1969-1970.
Professor, University Guelph, 1971-1980.
Visiting Fellow, Institute, Institution Social and Economics Research, York University, Canada, 1976-1977. Visiting Professor, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1980.
Distinguished Visiting, University Alberta, 1984. Dean, Professor Social Science, University Guelph, Guelph, Canada, since 1981.
Editorial Board, Canadian Journal of Economics,
9.
Editor, Canadian Public Policy — Analyse de Politiques, 1974-1982.
Two principal themes are characteristic of most of my research and publications. The first relates to substance: labour market adjustment in its various forms. And the second concerns approach, since most of my work is empirical in nature.
The term empirical connotes both hypothesis testing and attempts to explain observed patterns of behaviour or ‘realworld’ phenomena. Observed patterns are analysed in the light of pertinent economic theory and institution arrangements using appropriate econometric techniques. All of the empirical work relates to adjustment aspects of the Canadian labour market.
Initial work concentrated on wage adjustment and its relation to unemployment with macroeconomic overtones. The notion of structural unemployment, the link between unemployment and vacancies, and the phenomenon of labour hoarding were analysed in this context. My work on strike behaviour can also be related to this area of interest.
Gradually another area of adjustment, viz. on the supply side, became the dominant interest, with particular emphasis on migration. Human capital hypotheses were tested also in terms of outcomes after migration and the results provided only weak support. This had led to some rethinking about the whole of the interregional adjustment process.
More recent work has been concerned with regional disparities in incomes and
unemployment, and with the role of regional employment growth.