Kaisa Kotakorpi appointed research professor at VATT
Kaisa Kotakorpi, D.Sc. (Econ.), is one of the leading and internationally merited researchers of public economics in Finland.
Kaisa Kotakorpi will start as a research professor at the VATT Institute for Economic Research in a research group for social security, taxation and distribution of income on 1 September 2017. This is a new professorship.
Kotakorpi is specialised in public economics, and taxation in particular. Her research deals with Pigovian tax, the evaluation of economic policies and the impact of the tax and subsidy system on the behaviour and wellbeing of citizens.
Research on the tax system is much more than the study of the impact of different tax rates. Details and the larger scope are equally significant.
“Key questions include how taxes can be collected effectively, what kinds of opportunities does the system offer for tax evasion and avoidance and do people with low income receive all the subsidies offered to them if application processes are complicated,” Kotakorpi says.
Kaisa Kotakorpi completed her doctoral degree in economics at Tampere University in 2007. She will transfer to VATT from Turku University where she has worked as a professor of economics and vice head of the Department of Economics. Kotakorpi is a member of the Economic Policy Council established in 2014.
She has significant international experience. She has worked, for example, as a visiting researcher in the Department of Economics at London School of Economics. She is also a fellow of the respected German CESifo research network.
Research activities at VATT will be strengthened by new research professors during autumn 2017. Research professors conduct scientific research, acquire funding, and lead research teams and projects. The aim of these new professorships is to serve the Finnish scientific community and society even better.
According to Kaisa Kotakorpi, VATT plays a significant part in empirical research on public economics. After all, questions of the public economy are intertwined in all social policies and in the evaluation of different political options. High-quality research is needed to support the reform of the public sector.
“Many think that, when the overall economic situation is challenging, the public sector will inevitably become smaller or that it should be reduced, as the provision of public services can no longer be afforded,” Kotakorpi says.
“However, I believe that, in these situations, the role of the public sector becomes even more important. In conjunction with major reforms, such as the health and social services reform, it is also necessary to consider, from all points of view, what tasks the public sector should carry out and what it should not, and how can different services be funded.”
More information: Kaisa Kotakorpi, +358 50 327 2038
Kaisa Kotakorpi
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Social security, taxation and inequality
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