
Milena Nikolova
Milena Nikolova was a Non-resident fellow at Bruegel until February 2024. She is an Aletta Jacobs Professor in the Economics of Well-being at the University of Groningen.
Before joining the University of Groningen, Milena was a Research Associate at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), where she is now a Research Fellow. Nikolova is also a Non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Fellow at the Global Labor Organization. Dr. Nikolova's work has appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Public Economics, World Development, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, the Journal of Business Venturing, and the Journal of Population Economics.
In addition to her academic career, Nikolova has demonstrated research experience in leading think tanks, such as the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.
Dr. Nikolova is an Editor of the Journal of Population Economics.
Milena holds a Ph.D. in public policy from the University of Maryland, College Park (2014).
Featured work

Lessons from the rise in self-employment
What does the future look like for the self-employed and what does it mean for traditional workers?

Can working solo be good for entrepreneurs?
The self-employed are a diverse group, but they can help us better understand the drivers of well-being at work and help design better policies.

Self-employment, COVID-19, and the future of work for knowledge workers
The experiences of the self-employed could give a glimpse into the future of work for knowledge workers in a post-pandemic world.