Open Science NL grants for Milena Nikolova and Robert Lensink

The Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) is happy to announce that professors Milena Nikolova and Robert Lensink have each received a grant of € 200,000 from Open Science NL for research projects. Milena Nikolova’s project focuses on the impact of income on well-being and Robert Lensink’s project focuses on encouraging fertilizer use in Ghana.

Does more money make people happier?

Milena Nikolova, Professor of the Economics of Well-being at FEB’s Department of Global Economics and Management, received the grant for her project titled ‘Happiness and Income’. Her study replicates and extends Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton’s research from 2010 on income and subjective well-being. Kahneman and Deaton’s work used U.S. data and found that happiness rises with income up to $75,000, then plateaus. Recent studies suggest that happiness continues to increase as income rises, but these studies remain U.S.-focused. Using Gallup World Poll data from over 140 countries, Nikolova’s project first replicates the original U.S. analysis and then examines whether the link between income and happiness holds globally or varies across countries. Using a cross-country analysis, she will provide insights for economic policy, well-being measurement, and debates on whether the impact of income on happiness is universal. Nikolova looks forward to starting her project. “I sincerely thank the NWO for supporting this research and for its strong commitment to open science and replicability.”

A nudge for fertilizer use in Ghana

Robert Lensink, Professor of Finance and Financial Markets and the Vice-Dean of Research at FEB, received the grant for his project titled ‘Encouraging Fertilizer Use: A Replication Study with Cashew Farmers in Ghana’. His study replicates and extends a cornerstone 2011 study by Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer and Jonathan Robinson on nudging fertilizer usage in Kenya. Most African countries subsidize fertilizer for smallholder farmers, but rising fertilizer prices, government debt levels, and climate change disruptions are leading them to revisit the sustainability of subsidies and explore cheaper alternatives. The study by Duflo, Kremer, and Robinson both informed these existing subsidies and offered a cheaper alternative. A low-cost 'nudge' allowed farmers to pay for fertilizer when financially liquid and receive free delivery later. It significantly increased fertilizer uptake for Kenyan maize farmers. Lensink and his team will replicate this study for cashew farmers in Ghana to explore whether the findings replicate, to directly inform Ghanaian subsidy.

Open Science NL: funding programme for replication studies

Open Science NL was established in 2023 as a 'task force' under the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This structure enables Open Science NL to fully benefit from NWO’s funding expertise, open science track record, and experience with task forces. With its funding programme for replication studies, Open Science NL builds on earlier experiences of NWO, which organized three successful rounds for replication studies between 2016 and 2020. This was the world’s first funding programme specifically aimed at replication research. With these grants, Open Science NL takes an important step towards normalizing replication research and increasing insight into the replicability of scientific findings.

More information

Questions? Please contact Milena Nikolova or Robert Lensink.