Jozef Marie Mathias "Jo" Ritzen (born 3 October 1945) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and economist. Ritzen worked as researcher at the Delft Institute of Technology from July 1969 until June 1972 and at the Erasmus University Rotterdam from June 1972 until July 1976. Ritzen worked as a civil engineering consultant in Bangladesh from August 1976 until April 1978 and as a visiting professor of Education economics at the University of California, Berkeley from September 1978 until May 1979. Ritzen worked as an associate professor of Public economics at the Radboud University Nijmegen from May 1978 until January 1981 and a professor of Education economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam from January 1981 until September 1982. Ritzen worked as a political consultan