{"id":82008,"date":"2017-12-11T12:40:09","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T11:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=82008"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T15:54:10","slug":"and-then-the-berlin-wall-fell-in-1989-suddenly-i-was-the-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/12\/11\/and-then-the-berlin-wall-fell-in-1989-suddenly-i-was-the-expert\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018And then the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. Suddenly I was the expert\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kees van Paridon grew up on a farm.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRonald van den Heerik<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Kees van Paridon first entered the Woudestein complex, which had just been opened, 47 years ago. He was an 18-year-old student at the time. This year, he will be leaving as a 65\u2011year-old Professor of Economics at Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences. Seven sides, some known and others less so, of a professor emeritus who prefers to be out of the limelight.<\/p>\n

The Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau<\/h3>

On 10 November, Van Paridon was made an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. Looking back on that Friday afternoon, during which speeches were given by Rector Huib Pols, Dean Victor Bekkers and colleague Peter Marks and the mayor of Leidschendam-Voorburg, he recalls being \u2018stunned\u2019. \u201cI remember thinking at times: \u2018Is all this really about me?\u2019 It was that great an honour to me.\u201d A great honour indeed, even though Van Paridon is not a staunch royalist and moreover, he does not like to be in the spotlight. Actually, he initially declined to give this interview. \u201cIt\u2019s really not my thing.\u201d Fortunately, he agreed to talk about himself following a second request.<\/p>\n

The Catholic farm boy<\/h3>

Considering his family background, it was by no means a given that Van Paridon would complete an academic education. \u201cMy father\u2019s education had ended after seventh grade [one year after primary school, ed.] and my mother had graduated from the domestic science school. I grew up on the farm.\u201d Van Paridon grew up in an unlikely place, namely Prins Clausplein, nowadays a huge interchange of the A12 and A4 motorways close to The Hague. The Van Paridon farm once stood where thousands of vehicles now hurtle past on flyovers every hour.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018[My family] were just baffled that a not-so-dumb boy like me could have such dumb points of view.\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

\u201cWe lived in a beautiful polder area not far from the roundabout between the motorways. There\u2019s nothing left of that polder. We made hay where the ADO Den Haag football stadium now stands.\u201d Van Paridon comes from a Catholic family. Ideologically, however, he headed in a different direction. \u201cI was terribly leftist to some family members. They always voted KVP [Catholic forerunner of the Christian democratic CDA, ed.]. But I always remained on speaking terms with the family. They were just baffled that a not-so-dumb boy like me could have such dumb points of view.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he no longer adheres to the religion, he retains elements of the Catholic tradition. \u201cThose given and middle names, those initials, remain a part of who you are. Faith does shape your character and the way you interact with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The long-haired student<\/h3>

Van Paridon started studying Econometrics at Erasmus University Rotterdam, at the time still the Netherlands School of Economics (Nederlandsche Economische Hogeschool<\/em>), in 1970. \u201cBut I wasn\u2019t good enough by a hair\u2019s breadth. I failed one subject and immediately switched to Economics.\u201d To Van Paridon, the university was very much a new world. \u201cI was astounded. There were all these smart people around who had very different ideas and opinions. I had been raised very much in the Catholic tradition and suddenly found myself in a place where it was possible to think very differently about certain issues. It was a real revelation to me.\u201d He was a shy first-year student. \u201cI stuttered and was someone who didn\u2019t like to be the centre of attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the postgraduate phase of his academic career, Van Paridon opted for Spatial Economics. \u201cIt was a somewhat broader and slightly more mathematical discipline. Though small, the excellent programme was run by people like Odell, Van der Knaap, Klaassen and Paelinck [at the time professors of Economics, ed.], all of them luminaries in their field. I also became very active in the General Rotterdam Student Union (Algemene Rotterdamse Studentenbond<\/em>, ARSB). I started as a member of the Economics faculty council and then served as a member of the university council for two years. All those meetings taught me how to speak in public.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018We had more say than is the case today, but whether we used that influence effectively is open to question.\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

\u201cThe university was already a \u2018gentlemen\u2019s rightwing\u2019 kind of place back then and there I was, a Labour Party (PvdA) man. I had long hair and the \u2018wrong\u2019 ideas. There were political parties in the university council back then: the progressives (more or less the Labour Party and Democrats 66), the \u2018Erasmuslijst\u2019 (gentlemen\u2019s right to unequivocal frat boys) and ARSB, of which I was a member, at the far left of the spectrum. The council was therefore more political, something that is now a flaw. We had more say than is the case today, but whether we used that influence effectively is open to question. We achieved certain things of course, but only to a limited extent. In any case, the situation was such that meetings took a long time.\u201d Van Paridon would return to the university council decades later: he chaired the body for two years from 2015.<\/p>\n

The man with the contacts<\/h3>

To those who know Van Paridon, the first thing that comes to mind when asked about him is that he always knows everyone. His secret? \u201cI can get along well with everyone and I\u2019m not the kind of person who\u2019s always out to gain something for myself. You get to know someone a bit and later think: \u2018It would be great if he or she could give a guest lecture.\u2019 I send that person an email message and usually the response is positive. Over the years, for example, ministers of finance have regularly given guest lectures here: Gerrit Zalm, Wouter Bos, Jan Kees de Jager, Hans Hoogervorst \u2013 I knew them all.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was not the only time in the interview that Van Paridon reeled out a series of famous names. \u201cWell, perhaps it\u2019s true that I remember names well, but I don\u2019t have a Rolodex or something like that. I value people simply because of what they do and if I think \u2018Only a few people can do what you do,\u2019 I approach them. It\u2019s no more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The expert on Germany<\/h3>
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Former U-Council Chair Kees van Paridon <\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRonald van den Heerik<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Van Paridon is known as an expert on German-Dutch economic relations. That expertise actually came about rather accidentally. \u201cI had to decide on a subject for my doctoral studies and opted for the economic relationship between Rotterdam and Germany. Strangely enough, not much had as yet been written on the subject, and when I later took up a position at CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, I was told: \u2018We haven\u2019t really touched that subject yet, please develop our efforts in that area.\u201d And then the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Suddenly I was the<\/em> expert.\u201d<\/p>\n

From 1988, Van Paridon worked at CPB and, for no less than ten years, at the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). Nevertheless, the pull of teaching and research ultimately made itself felt. Thanks to the famous Dutch journalist J.L. Heldring, Van Paridon returned to academia in 1999. \u201cHe had collected money and used it to establish a number of endowed chairs dedicated to the study of Germany: history in Groningen, politics in Nijmegen, German culture in Maastricht. The original plan was for economics to be based in Rotterdam, but the chair was not wanted here, so I became endowed professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.\u201d Van Paridon returned to his alma mater<\/em> in 1999, where he still works at Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences.<\/p>\n

The storyteller<\/h3>\n\t
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\n\t\t\u2018Some students stand out, ask intelligent questions and hand in superlative work. That\u2019s when I really think: \u201cWow!\u201d\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Van Paridon has always thoroughly enjoyed working at the university. \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic. There\u2019s a great deal of freedom. Everyone\u2019s their own boss at the university, and rather stubborn at times. It\u2019s difficult for the governors of course, because it means that people aren\u2019t always willing to listen, while it goes without saying that one\u2019s own ideas are always<\/em> the most brilliant,\u201d he added with a wink.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the students are great. The majority have a bit of a consumer attitude in that they just want to achieve the necessary pass marks and that\u2019s it. But some stand out, ask intelligent questions and hand in superlative work. That\u2019s when I really think: \u2018Wow!\u2019. Those are the kind of students that you tend to meet again further down the road.\u201d A series of names, this time of professors, was again reeled out: \u201cBram Steijn, Gert-Jan Verbeek, Paul \u2018t Hart, Wil Hout \u2013 they all studied with me.\u201d Van Paridon is not such a fan of the currently popular problem-based learning (PGO). \u201cI\u2019m more of a storyteller in my lectures.\u201d<\/p>\n

The always busy emeritus<\/h3>

Emeritus status will not mean sitting in a rocking chair in the Van Paridon home. \u201cI fear the worst. I\u2019m still a supervisory director of a few companies and will remain a member of the Advisory Council on International Affairs. I\u2019m also still a visiting professor in M\u00fcnster. But I\u2019m no longer in mainstream education, which means that there\u2019s a fair amount of scope for other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Paridon does not have typical post-retirement plans. \u201cI\u2019ll go down a gear. I\u2019ve always liked reading and will be doing a bit more of that. I\u2019ll enjoy the lives of the children. Some professors carry on working until their passing. I don\u2019t believe I\u2019ll take it that far. I remember a visit to the late Jan Tinbergen. He was almost 90 at the time. The postal items that he had just opened included an issue of the American Economic Review<\/em>, which he eagerly began to read. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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