My research interests focus on two main areas:
Tax Compliance
PhD thesis : The
role of costs in tax evasion: non-selfish attitudes or pecuniary
motivations?
The thesis focuses on one of the predictions of the
standard portfolio model, at odds with the empirical evidence, according to which, in the presence of a low probability of detection and/or
an infrequently applied fine, tax evasion is wide-spread. The thesis investigates
the role of morals and social norms in deterring tax evasion and
the possibility they might emerge in a community through an
evolutionary process. This view is challenged with the argument
that tax compliance may be simply due to the lack of
opportunities to evade.
Published papers:
1. “The
effects of penalty information on tax compliance: evidence from a New
Zealand
field experiment”, (with Norman Gemmell), National Tax Journal,
Vol. 71
(3), pp. 547-588, September 2018.
2. “The
indirect effects of auditing taxpayers”, (with Richard Thomas and
David Ulph), Public
Finance Review, Vol. 41(3), pp. 317-333,
May 2013.
3.
“Behavioral Responses to
Taxpayer Audits: Evidence from Random Taxpayer Inquiries”, (with
Norman
Gemmell), National Tax Journal, Vol. 65, pp.
33-57, March 2012.
Incentive mechanism to promote
collective action and effort in teams
Free-riding issues in the provision of effort in teams. Empirical work
on the evaluation of
the impact of two pilot incentive schemes
run in two UK government agencies, aimed at
increasing group performance
by use of financial incentives (group bonuses).
Incentive mechanisms to
induce private
contributions to public goods: laboratory experiment comparing
the performance of two incentive mechanisms, one based on voluntary
cooperation and the other based on a formal system of penalties and
rewards for cooperation.
Theoretical work on the
role of the division of labour
as an incentive mechanism in a multitasking context.
- Published papers:
1. “Incentives in the
Public
Sector: Evidence from a Government Agency” (with Simon Burgess,
Carol Propper and
Emma Tominey), Economic
Journal, Vol.
127, Feature
Issue, pp. F117–F141, October 2017.
2. “Smarter
task assignment or greater effort: what makes a difference in team
performance”
(with Simon Burgess, Carol Propper, Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholder and
Emma Tominey), Economic Journal, Vol.
120, Issue 547, pp. 968-989, 2010.
3. “Too Few Cooks Spoil
the Broth: Division of
Labor and Directed Production” (with Wendelin Schnedler), The
B.E. Journal
of Economic Analysis & Policy, Vol. 8, Issue 1 (Topics),
Article 27,
2008.
4. “Relative performance of two
simple incentive mechanisms in a public good experiment” (with
Juergen Bracht
and Charles Figuières), Journal of Public
Economics, Vol. 92,
pp. 54-90, February 2008.