Researcher Spotlight
Christian van Stolk
Senior Analyst
Christian van Stolk is a Senior Analyst in the "Evaluation and Audit" team at RAND Europe. His research interests lie in the analysis of public administration and the evaluation of government programs, particularly tax administrations and social security systems. Understanding factors involved in consumer decision-making and choice of public services is critical to his research.
Chris serves as client manager for RAND Europe's strategic partnership with the UK National Audit Office (NAO). Issued in 2006, the partnership work enables RAND Europe to develop innovative ways to assess the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of public expenditures as part of the NAO "value for money" research agenda.
In recent work, Chris has led a study, commissioned by the NAO, into fraud and error in international security systems, looking at factors including occurrence, causes, prevention, detection and deterrence. The study was published as a full "value for money" study as required by the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons.
In addition, Chris has finished two studies examining the reforms and performance of international tax administrations for the European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions, an organization representing the supreme audit bodies of Europe, and the Cour des Comptes, the supreme audit body of France.
The impact of Chris's recent work has been significant. The World Bank has shown a keen interest in the fraud and error study, given their commitment to tackle corruption. As a result, the World Bank asked Chris to present the study's findings to its clients worldwide through distance learning mechanisms. Additionally, Chris will give a presentation in May to social security experts at the World Bank's headquarters in Washington, DC.
Likewise, the Cour des Comptes requested that Chris present the findings of the study on reform of tax administrations to the Counsellors of the Court (the most senior members), and to officials from the French Ministry of Finance. Their interest in this research stems from the broader agenda to modernize public services in France.
A copy of the full NAO "value for money" study on international fraud and error is available at http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/05-06/05061387.pdf
RAND Publications ListRAND Expert BiographyView More Researcher Spotlights
Top
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2008 RAND Corporation. 