European and US public economists’ gathering in Helsinki
The Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar (TAPES) brought together leading economists in the field of tax and income transfer systems to Helsinki on June 12-14, 2024.
From 12 to 14 June 2024, a major international conference, the Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar (TAPES), took place in Helsinki, Finland, focusing on tax and transfer systems. The event, organised by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the VATT Institute for Economic Research (VATT) and the Finnish Centre of Excellence for Tax Systems Research (FIT), brought together more than 40 distinguished economists from the United States and from more than 10 European countries to discuss issues such as the impact of taxation and income transfers on inequality, immigration, and labour markets.
"This conference is an excellent opportunity to discuss the differences between European and US systems and to find new perspectives for developing tax and transfer systems," say the organisers Hilary W. Hoynes (University of California, Berkeley and NBER) and Tuomas Kosonen (VATT and FIT).
Over 30 years of cooperation in tax and transfer system research
NBER has been organising transatlantic economics conferences since 1988. The President of NBER, Professor James Poterba from MIT, told participants that 36 years ago, when the first TAPES conference was first held, US researchers had a strong lead in using data in research. Now the balance has shifted, and especially the extensive registry data available on the Nordic countries, allows for high-quality research on tax and transfer systems.
In the Nordic countries, data availability has improved considerably and, as a result, the effects of changes to the tax systems can be studied with very credible research settings. The generalisability of the Nordic results to other countries and the willingness of their citizens to pay taxes pay taxes generated lively debate during the conference.
Super Week of Economic Research in Helsinki 10-14 June
The TAPES seminar is part of the Super Week of Economic Research in Helsinki, which includes a summer course for PhD students in economics, public lectures, and meetings. The events bring together researchers, members of the public interested in economics, decision-makers, and early-career researchers.
One of the highlights of the week was the keynote lecture by Professor Emmanuel Saez, the winner of the Wihuri International Prize 2023, on 11 June. In his lecture, Professor Saez discussed the global evolution of the welfare state and the growth of inequality. The lecture was attended by around 250 people.
"Our foundation promotes the idea that as a society we need a better understanding of the future of the welfare state. Emmanuel Saez has made significant contributions to research on the financing, structures and development of the welfare state," says Arto Hiltunen, Chairman of the Foundation's Board.
The high-quality conference presentations were also attended by PhD students in economics, whose week-long summer course included the TAPES conference. Every two years, the Centre of Excellence in Tax Studies organises a summer course for PhD students in economics. This year, 39 students from ten different countries were selected for the course.
Researchers specialising in taxation and transfer systems had to wait a long time for the event, which was first scheduled to take place in 2020 but had to be postponed due to the pandemic.
Organisers and supporters
TAPES is organised by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the VATT Institute for Economic Research (VATT) and the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research (FIT), with the support of the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation and the Palkansaajasäätiö. The summer course for PhD students is organised by the FIT and the Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies (UCFS) at Uppsala University.
Tuomas Kosonen
Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research
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