The increased global mobility of capital and labour poses a number of challenges to national tax systems: intricate global structures to hide personal wealth from the eyes of tax administrators and regulators, conflicts about the international allocation of taxing rights, a fast-evolving international tax policy landscape. The seminar focuses on the topic of taxation in the global economy and aims to bring together international junior and senior researchers working on international taxation, tax avoidance and evasion, tax competition, tax harmonization and related topics. Presentations can be polished papers or work in progress. The aim is to learn from each other and to discuss in a friendly atmosphere.

The seminar takes place at Paris School of Economics and via Zoom.

Sign-up for the seminar mailing list here.

If you would like to book a private time slot to meet the speaker, please email Ninon Moreau-Kastler ninon.moreau-kastler@psemail.eu or Léo Czajka leo.czajka@psemail.eu specifying which session.

This project has received funding from the European Union (TAXUD/2022/DE/310).

2024-25 Calendar

Friday 25 April 2025 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Isaac Amedanou (Université Jean-Monnet Saint-Etienne, GATE Lyon St-Étienne): Economic Sanctions and Taxation of Natural Resource Rent: Evidence from Spatial Analysis

Friday 16 May 2025 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Erin Troland (Federal Reserve Board)

Friday 23 May 2025 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Lin Tian (INSEAD):

Friday 13 June 2025 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Ilyana Kuziemko (Princeton)

Past seminars:

Friday 4 April 2025 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Sebastian Siegloch (University of Cologne): Welfare Effects of Property Taxation

Friday 11 April 2025 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Antoine Ferey (SciencesPo, CESifo, IPP-PSE): Redistribution and Unemployment Insurance

Friday 28 March 2025 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Isabela Manelici (LSE): The Gains from Foreign Multinationals in an Economy with Distortions

Friday 21 March 2025 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Lucie Gadenne (Queen Mary, IFS): When Private Firms Provide Public Goods: The Allocation of CSR Spending

Friday 14 March 2025 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Isabelle Méjean (Sciences Po): Firms’ Supply Chain Adaptation to Carbon Taxes

Friday 7 March 2025 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Céline Azemar (Rennes School of Business): Controversial Preferential Tax Treatments for Multinational Enterprises in the EU: Evidence from Spain

Friday 14 February 2025 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Bob Rijkers (World Bank, Utrecht University): How (in)efficient are governments? Evidence from matched customs transactions data with Manuel Garcia-Santana and Devaki Ghose

Friday 13 December 2024 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

KNEBELMANN Justine (Sciences Po): Discretion versus Algorithms: Bureaucrats and Tax Equity in Senegal

Friday 29 November 2024 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Arthur Guillouzouic Le Corff (CNRS, AMSE, PSE-IPP): Taxing Wealth in the Presence of Liquidity Constraints: Evidence from France

Friday 18 October 2024 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

WALLOSSEK Luisa (University of Oslo): The Marriage Earnings Gap

Friday 8 November 2024 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

Maarten van’t Riet (Tilburg University): Tax avoidance by redirecting royalty flows: estimating the global revenue loss with Arjan Lejour (Tilburg University)

Friday 4 October 2024 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

LANGENMAYR Dominika (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt): Navigating the Amazon: The Incidence of Digital Service Taxes

Friday 27 September 2024 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

KYSAR Rebecca (Fordham University): The Global Tax Deal and the New International Economic Governance

Friday 20 September 2024 12:00-13:00 │ R1-14

GOUPILLE-LEBRET Jonathan (ENS LYON): Tax Design, Information, and Elasticities: Evidence From the French Wealth Tax with Bertrand GARBINTI, Mathilde MUNOZ, Stefanie STANTCHEVA, and Gabriel ZUCMAN

The EU Tax Observatory’s annual high-level policy event, “Competition or Cooperation? EU Tax Policies for Tomorrow”, will delve into the dynamic relationship between tax policy, competition, and cooperation within the European Union.

Held at a time of renewed momentum following the launch of the EU Competition Compass, this year’s edition will examine how tax policies can help create a fairer and more competitive economic environment. Discussions will focus on how tax coordination can foster inclusive economic growth, support equality, and align with both EU and international frameworks.

The event will feature a series of high-level panels and keynote speeches, including sessions on the shifting dynamics of corporate tax competition, the impact of unfair wealth tax competition, and the role of tax enforcement in a globalized economy. Prominent speakers include representatives from the European Commission and Parliament, civil society, academia, and business, with voices such as Gerassimos Thomas (European Commission), Pasquale Tridico (European Parliament), Gabriel Zucman (EU Tax Observatory), and Marlene Engelhorn (Tax Me Now) contributing to the dialogue.

Bringing together policymakers, experts, and stakeholders, this event offers a timely platform for shaping the future of EU tax policy.

The workshop is organised jointly by the IEB, the University of Barcelona and the EU Tax Observatory. It will take place at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Barcelona on the 3rd and 4th of June 2025.

It will feature presentations by leading economists on various topics related to public economics. The sessions will cover topics ranging from corporate taxation, offshore wealth, wealth taxation, to inheritance taxation, taxes and inequality and the incidence of taxes.

We are also happy to have two keynote speakers: Dina Pomeranz (University of Zurich) and Youssef Benzarti (University of California, Santa Barbara).

Call for Papers

We welcome empirical and theoretical submissions on any topic in the economics of taxation. Contributions on tax evasion, tax enforcement, profit shifting, redistribution and inequality are particularly welcome. Completed manuscripts are highly encouraged.

Submission deadline: 14th March 2025
Acceptance decision: 31st March 2025

Completed manuscripts must be submitted here. 

The EU Tax Observatory 

Young Researcher Award in Public Finance

The EU Tax Observatory invites the submission of research papers from PhD students or postdoctoral scholars for its annual Young Researcher Award. The Award encourages and recognizes innovative research in the field of public finance, in particular in the analysis of tax evasion and avoidance, wealth taxation, illicit financial flows, taxation of multinationals and environment related fiscal policies. The nomination of empirical papers with direct implications for EU tax policy is especially encouraged.

Purpose

The increase in global mobility of capital and labour poses significant challenges for national tax systems. Numerous leaks have exposed intricate global structures used to hide personal wealth or avoid corporate income tax. Meanwhile, the rise of the digital economy makes it more difficult to determine the location of value creation, thus fuelling the debate about the international allocation of taxing rights. At the same time, as the risks associated with climate change grow, the need for global, coordinated fiscal policies to reduce environmental externalities has never been more urgent. Governments must work together to implement tax measures that discourage harmful activities, such as carbon emissions and resource depletion, while incentivizing sustainable practices. As a response to these developments, countries have risen to the occasion by reaching international agreements, such as the automatic exchange of information, the global corporate minimum tax or the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism. Nevertheless, their effectiveness in tackling tax evasion, tax avoidance, and environmental harm remains to be studied. Early career researchers are at the frontier of this assessment. Exciting times for tax research!

The Prize

Submissions will be evaluated by the EU Tax Observatory’s award committee based on the following selection criteria: 

• Original research question 
• Scientific quality
• Innovative approach
• Policy relevance

The winner will receive a EUR 2000 award, presented at our high-level event in Brussels on May 13^th, 2025.

Who can apply?

Researchers must be nominated by an academic supervisor. All PhD students or postdoctoral scholars in the field of economics of any nationality and country of residence are eligible. The final decision of the committee will be communicated on April 25^th at the latest. The award recipient must be available to come present their work during the EU Tax Observatory’s event in Brussels on May 13^th, 2025 (accommodation and travel costs will be covered).

How to apply? 

Submit nominations to yr_award@taxobservatory.eu until April 6^th, 2025.

Submissions should include (in PDF format):

• A short recommendation letter by the supervisor (a few paragraphs).
• The research paper.