Call For Papers: Norwegian Business School Workshop On The Political Economy Of Tax Laws

Call for Papers: Tax in Politics, Politics in Tax—A Dialogue on the Political Economy of Tax Laws: 

Deadline for submitting abstract: 24 March 2025 
Workshop held in Oslo 23 May 2025 
Edited book planned to be published in late 2026 

Editors and organizers:
Yvette Lind, Professor of Law at BI Norwegian Business School
James Alm, Professor emeritus of Economics at Tulane University

Background and Motivation for Workshop and Edited Book
Taxation is essential for the functioning of our modern states as it funds the maintenance of law and security, collective decision-making, provision of public goods and services, and redistribution. In short, no government or state can survive without taxation. This is apparent when considering the Nordic welfare states. Given this importance, the design and execution of taxes are fundamental. Moreover, taxation encompasses the relationship between individuals, governments, and public policy and thus naturally concerns various disciplines such as economics, politics, and law. Taxes have been extensively studied by these disciplines but rarely collectively, despite the apparent benefits of doing so. In addition, the actual making of taxes through tax laws and tax policies is of great interest to both legal scholars and legal practitioners when they apply and interpret these tax laws. Despite this apparent linking and importance, the political aspects of tax laws are often left out of tax studies done by legal scholars.

Consequently, BI Tax and Fiscal Policy Centre at BI Norwegian Business school is organising a workshop as a recognition of this research gap and the growing need to consider taxation in a more holistic fashion, especially in light of ongoing global and local developments.

The workshop strives to gather scholars from various disciplines with the purpose of advancing the interlinking of political economy and tax law as a recognised and progressively growing research field. Those accepted to the workshop will have the chance to have their research papers included in a book that will be edited by Yvette Lind and James Alm and is planned to be published by Edinburgh University Press in the second half of 2026.

The proposed workshop and publication aim to (1) answer questions about the relationship between tax law and political economics in a number of differing settings, and (2) provide scholars with the methodological and theoretical tools necessary for conducting studies on taxation through the lenses of political economy and tax law. Consequently, we welcome papers of a broad variety that may be linked to any of our three outlined themes.

1. The power to tax. This includes questions such as: Who has the power to tax and how does this affect our tax systems and subsequently our tax laws? Who ought to have the power and why? How should tax laws be enforced? How do political considerations affect the power to tax? This theme naturally also covers aspects associated with the administrative, procedural, and legislative processes associated with taxation, i.e. the making of tax laws and the fashion in which we interpret and apply them.
2. The fundamentals of our tax systems. What principles underpin our tax systems? Should we design our tax systems and tax laws to achieve justice or efficiency, or simply to raise revenues? Who/what should be taxed?
3. Redistribution of tax revenues. Tax scholars from law rarely consider the ways in which the tax revenues that are collected are actually spent, especially via their redistribution to various groups in society. The uses of taxes form a vital part of the publication. Within this umbrella authors may naturally wish to explore the goals of redistribution, e.g. equal treatment or equity. Redistribution and progressive taxation naturally deviate from equal treatment. Does our (formally) neutral tax systems discriminate against - or in favour of - various groups based on - for instance - gender, race, and economic status? And if so, has this been addressed politically and/or legally in our tax systems?

The above outlined themes have been dealt with extensively within disciplines such as economics and political economics yet less so by law, at least those outside of the US. It is our wish to address this research gap through this workshop and publication and to foster research in this area of law when considering the Nordics in particular.

Papers selection will be done by editors based on the following criteria: quality, novelty, multidisciplinary approach or appeal to multidisciplinary audience, and overall fit with planned publication.

We strongly encourage early-career scholars and/or Nordic tax scholars to apply as we wish to strengthen the Nordic tax community through this networking and international publication opportunity. We can sadly not offer funding for travel and stay during the workshop, but the workshop itself is cost-free for participants. Nordic tax scholars are encouraged to apply for funding for participation (travel and stay) from the Nordic Tax Research Council who are co-funding this event.

Proposed Time Plan

• Deadline for submitting abstract: 24 March 2025.
• The decision on accepted/rejected papers will be communicated in mid-April 2025.
• First drafts of papers are to be submitted to editors by the 12 May 2025.
• The workshop will be held in Oslo at BI Norwegian Business School 23 May 2025.
• Revised draft papers are expected to be sent to editors by 12 October 2025.
• Editors will request additional changes by 1 December 2025.
• Papers subjected to additional revision are expected to be received by 15 February 2026.
• Final publication is expected in the second half of 2026.

Review Process

• Editors will make the initial sorting when accepting/rejecting papers for workshop.
• External reviewers will be invited to comment on papers at the workshop.
• Editors will provide supplementary comments on the papers after the workshop.
• Revised drafts will be subject to additional review from editors and possible external reviewers based on individual need.

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