PUBLISHED PAPERS
Capital Taxation, Development, and Globalization: Evidence from a Macro-Historical Database
(with P. Bachas, M. Fisher-Post and G. Zucman) Forthcoming, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
NBER Working Paper No.29819. Coverage: VoxEU; WorldBank. Data: globaltaxation.world
No Taxation Without Administration: Bringing the State Back Into the Public Finance of Developing Countries
(with Jonathan Weigel) Journal of Economic Literature, 64 (1), 2026.
NBER Working Paper No. 34729. See also VoxDevLit on taxation and development: link here
Tax Equity in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
(with Pierre Bachas and Lucie Gadenne) Journal of Economic Perspectives, 38 (1): 55-80, 2024.
See also VoxDevLit on taxation and development: link here
Informality, Consumption Taxes and Redistribution
(with Pierre Bachas and Lucie Gadenne) Review of Economics Studies, 91 (5): 2604-2634, 2023.
NBER Working Paper No.27429. Coverage: VoxDev; WorldBank
Norms, Enforcement and Tax Evasion
(with Tim Besley and Torsten Persson) Review of Economics and Statistics, 105 (4): 998-1007, 2023.
Coverage: VoxEU
Employment Structure and the Rise of the Modern Tax System
American Economic Review, 112 (1): 213-34, 2022.
Size-Dependent Tax Enforcement and Compliance: Global Evidence and Aggregate Implications
(with Pierre Bachas and Roberto Fattal Jaef) Journal of Development Economics, 140: 203-222, 2019.
WORKING PAPERS
Technology and Tax Capacity: Evidence from Local Governments in Ghana
(with James Dzansi, David Lagakos, and Henry Telli) Reject and Resubmit, Econometrica
NBER Working Paper No. 29923. Coverage: VoxEU; VoxDev.
Technological Capacity
(with Raul Duarte) Chapter in preparation for Oxford Handbook of State Building and State Capacity (eds. Mark Dincecco and Yuhua Wang)
Banking on Taxes: Financial Expansion as Tax Policy
(with Haichao Fan, Guanchun Liu, Huanhuan Wang and Jaya Wen)
Horizontal Equity of Taxation: Citizen Beliefs and Policy Preferences
(with Pierre Bachas, Christopher Hoy and Mahvish Shaukat)
Tax Knowledge in Equilibrium: Experimental Evidence from an Education Program
(with Nikhil Kumar and Konstantin Poensgen)
SELECTED WORK IN PROGRESS
Tax Productivity and Development: A Quantitative Macroeconomic Analysis
(with Radhika Goyal, David Lagakos and Abdoulaye Ndiaye)
Towards a Cashless Economy? Evidence from the Elasticity of Cash Deposits of Mexican Firms
(with Pierre Bachas and Sean Higgins)
Informational Barriers to Technology Adoption in Governments
(with James Dzansi, David Lagakos, and Henry Telli)
Big Push? Experimental Evidence on Compliance Traps in Pakistan
(with Sher Afghan Asad, Michael Best and Adnan Khan)
Collateral Accounts: Debt Recovery Through Electricity Metering in South Africa
(with Jeffrey Cross and Kelsey Jack)
Tax Accelerations
(with Radhika Goyal)
Capital Taxation, Development, and Globalization: Evidence from a Macro-Historical Database
(with P. Bachas, M. Fisher-Post and G. Zucman) Forthcoming, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
NBER Working Paper No.29819. Coverage: VoxEU; WorldBank. Data: globaltaxation.world
No Taxation Without Administration: Bringing the State Back Into the Public Finance of Developing Countries
(with Jonathan Weigel) Journal of Economic Literature, 64 (1), 2026.
NBER Working Paper No. 34729. See also VoxDevLit on taxation and development: link here
Tax Equity in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
(with Pierre Bachas and Lucie Gadenne) Journal of Economic Perspectives, 38 (1): 55-80, 2024.
See also VoxDevLit on taxation and development: link here
Informality, Consumption Taxes and Redistribution
(with Pierre Bachas and Lucie Gadenne) Review of Economics Studies, 91 (5): 2604-2634, 2023.
NBER Working Paper No.27429. Coverage: VoxDev; WorldBank
Norms, Enforcement and Tax Evasion
(with Tim Besley and Torsten Persson) Review of Economics and Statistics, 105 (4): 998-1007, 2023.
Coverage: VoxEU
Employment Structure and the Rise of the Modern Tax System
American Economic Review, 112 (1): 213-34, 2022.
Size-Dependent Tax Enforcement and Compliance: Global Evidence and Aggregate Implications
(with Pierre Bachas and Roberto Fattal Jaef) Journal of Development Economics, 140: 203-222, 2019.
WORKING PAPERS
Technology and Tax Capacity: Evidence from Local Governments in Ghana
(with James Dzansi, David Lagakos, and Henry Telli) Reject and Resubmit, Econometrica
NBER Working Paper No. 29923. Coverage: VoxEU; VoxDev.
Technological Capacity
(with Raul Duarte) Chapter in preparation for Oxford Handbook of State Building and State Capacity (eds. Mark Dincecco and Yuhua Wang)
Banking on Taxes: Financial Expansion as Tax Policy
(with Haichao Fan, Guanchun Liu, Huanhuan Wang and Jaya Wen)
Horizontal Equity of Taxation: Citizen Beliefs and Policy Preferences
(with Pierre Bachas, Christopher Hoy and Mahvish Shaukat)
Tax Knowledge in Equilibrium: Experimental Evidence from an Education Program
(with Nikhil Kumar and Konstantin Poensgen)
SELECTED WORK IN PROGRESS
Tax Productivity and Development: A Quantitative Macroeconomic Analysis
(with Radhika Goyal, David Lagakos and Abdoulaye Ndiaye)
Towards a Cashless Economy? Evidence from the Elasticity of Cash Deposits of Mexican Firms
(with Pierre Bachas and Sean Higgins)
Informational Barriers to Technology Adoption in Governments
(with James Dzansi, David Lagakos, and Henry Telli)
Big Push? Experimental Evidence on Compliance Traps in Pakistan
(with Sher Afghan Asad, Michael Best and Adnan Khan)
Collateral Accounts: Debt Recovery Through Electricity Metering in South Africa
(with Jeffrey Cross and Kelsey Jack)
Tax Accelerations
(with Radhika Goyal)
NON PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
State-Building in Resource-Rich Economies
Atlantic Economic Journal, 39 (2): 171-93, 2011
Aid and Public Finance
(with Markus Gstoettner) Atlantic Economic Journal, 38 (2): 217-35, 2010
State-Building in Resource-Rich Economies
Atlantic Economic Journal, 39 (2): 171-93, 2011
Aid and Public Finance
(with Markus Gstoettner) Atlantic Economic Journal, 38 (2): 217-35, 2010