Combating tax evasion
Jun
07
05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
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Combating tax evasion
No modern state can function without effective taxation to fund its roles, ranging from assuring security, rule of law, and infrastructure to providing services in education and health or social programs. Tax evasion not only undermines these efforts, but also leads to distortions in the economy, which can have negative impacts on both economic efficiency and societal fairness.
In this webcast, UBS Foundation Professor Dina Pomeranz presents research on how governments around the world are combating tax evasion. She talks about lessons learned on how to strengthen the capacity to collect taxes effectively and fairly, particularly in low and middle-income countries.
Live from the UZH Studios, we reviewed recent economic research on the topic and took questions from the audience via Mentimeter. The host was UBS Foundation Professor Florian Scheuer (University of Zurich).
This was a public event with free access via livestream on our website in association with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
No modern state can function without effective taxation to fund its roles, ranging from assuring security, rule of law, and infrastructure to providing services in education and health or social programs. Tax evasion not only undermines these efforts, but also leads to distortions in the economy, which can have negative impacts on both economic efficiency and societal fairness.
In this webcast, UBS Foundation Professor Dina Pomeranz presents research on how governments around the world are combating tax evasion. She talks about lessons learned on how to strengthen the capacity to collect taxes effectively and fairly, particularly in low and middle-income countries.
Dina Pomeranz is UBS Foundation Assistant Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Zurich
Speakers
UBS Foundation Assistant Professor of Applied Economics
Dina Pomeranz received her PhD from Harvard in 2010. Prior to joining the University of Zurich, she was an assistant professor at Harvard Business School and a Post-Doctoral Fellow at MIT's Poverty Action Lab. Her research focuses on developing countries, in particular on public finance, taxation, public procurement and firm development. Taking state-capacity research to the field, she works closely with the governments in Chile, Ecuador and Kenya to analyze strategies to strengthen public finance capabilities, and measure the impacts on government agencies, citizens and firms. Her work has been published in academic journals including the American Economic Review, the American Economic Journal - Applied Economics, and the Journal of Economic Development. In 2017, she was awarded one of the highly competitive ERC Starting Grants for her research on tax evasion and the role of firm networks. In 2018, she received the Excellence Prize in Applied Development Research of the “Verein für Socialpolitik”, was named as one of the top 10 most influential economists in Switzerland by a consortium of Swiss newspapers and was elected to the Council of the European Economic Association for a 5-year term.
UBS Foundation Professor of Economics of Institutions, Research Fellow CEPR
Florian Scheuer received his PhD from MIT in 2010. He is interested in the policy implications of rising inequality, with a focus on tax policy. In particular, he has worked on incorporating important features of real-world labor markets into the design of optimal income and wealth taxes. These include economies with rent-seeking, superstar effects or an important entrepreneurial sector, frictional financial markets, as well as political constraints on tax policy and the resulting inequality. His work has been published in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Review of Economic Studies, among other journals. In 2017, he received an ERC starting grant for his research on “Inequality - Public Policy and Political Economy.” Before joining Zurich, he was on the faculty at Stanford, held visiting positions at Harvard and UC Berkeley and was a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is Co-Editor of Theoretical Economics and Member of the Board of Editors of the Review of Economic Studies. He is also a Co-Director of the working group on Macro Public Finance at the NBER. He has commented on tax policy in various US and Swiss media outlets.
UBS Foundation Assistant Professor of Applied Economics
Dina Pomeranz received her PhD from Harvard in 2010. Prior to joining the University of Zurich, she was an assistant professor at Harvard Business School and a Post-Doctoral Fellow at MIT's Poverty Action Lab. Her research focuses on developing countries, in particular on public finance, taxation, public procurement and firm development. Taking state-capacity research to the field, she works closely with the governments in Chile, Ecuador and Kenya to analyze strategies to strengthen public finance capabilities, and measure the impacts on government agencies, citizens and firms. Her work has been published in academic journals including the American Economic Review, the American Economic Journal - Applied Economics, and the Journal of Economic Development. In 2017, she was awarded one of the highly competitive ERC Starting Grants for her research on tax evasion and the role of firm networks. In 2018, she received the Excellence Prize in Applied Development Research of the “Verein für Socialpolitik”, was named as one of the top 10 most influential economists in Switzerland by a consortium of Swiss newspapers and was elected to the Council of the European Economic Association for a 5-year term.
UBS Foundation Professor of Economics of Institutions, Research Fellow CEPR
Florian Scheuer received his PhD from MIT in 2010. He is interested in the policy implications of rising inequality, with a focus on tax policy. In particular, he has worked on incorporating important features of real-world labor markets into the design of optimal income and wealth taxes. These include economies with rent-seeking, superstar effects or an important entrepreneurial sector, frictional financial markets, as well as political constraints on tax policy and the resulting inequality. His work has been published in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Review of Economic Studies, among other journals. In 2017, he received an ERC starting grant for his research on “Inequality - Public Policy and Political Economy.” Before joining Zurich, he was on the faculty at Stanford, held visiting positions at Harvard and UC Berkeley and was a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is Co-Editor of Theoretical Economics and Member of the Board of Editors of the Review of Economic Studies. He is also a Co-Director of the working group on Macro Public Finance at the NBER. He has commented on tax policy in various US and Swiss media outlets.