ECN421 Intensive PhD Course in Taxes, Inequality, and the Environment

Dette emnet blir kun gitt på engelsk.

This intensive course provides doctoral students with an in-depth exploration of current research in public and environmental economics, with a particular focus on taxation, inequality, organizational form, and firm behavior. Climate policy relies heavily on tax and other price instruments such as carbon pricing, fuel and energy taxes, green subsidies and tax expenditures. These instruments interact with inequality through consumption patterns, ownership of capital, labour market adjustments, and exposure to environmental risks. This intensive course provides doctoral students with a research-oriented introduction to key concepts, empirical evidence, and open research questions at the intersection of taxation, inequality, and the environment. It also trains core academic skills: presenting early-stage research, discussing others’ work constructively, and responding to feedback.

The course is designed to stimulate reflection and identify open research questions and knowledge gaps, to broaden the PhD students’ networks, and to spur new collaborations across institutions and fields.

The course consists of 6 sessions: 5 academic lectures plus 1 skills-oriented session. Academic sessions combine lecture, guided discussion, and structured reflection.

Day 1: Foundations and big picture (lectures + discussion)

Session 1: Taxes, environmental policy, and inequality: the big picture Core concepts and frameworks: why link these topics; what to measure; channels from policy to distributional outcomes; labour supply, consumption, firm and investor responses; and how policy design affects efficiency and equity.

Session 2: Environmental taxation and distributional impacts Incidence of carbon pricing and environmental taxes, distribution across income and geography, compensation mechanisms, and common policy packages.

Day 2: Who emits, who pays, and what drives acceptance and innovation (lectures + discussion)

Session 3: Inequality in emissions and responsibility for decarbonisation How to measure emissions inequality (consumption-based, income-based, and ownership/investment-based perspectives); who "causes" emissions; who bears burdens; and implications for policy design and fairness.

Session 4: Public acceptance, fairness, and political economy of environmental taxes How distributional perceptions and fairness narratives shape support for environmental taxes; the role of information and policy design; links to attitudes toward taxation and the green transition.

Session 5: Innovation, green technological change, and the role of carbon pricing and tax policy How carbon pricing and complementary innovation policies shape green and non-green innovation; patents and measurement; identification challenges; and implications for effective climate policy.

Day 3: Academic skills lab

Session 6: Presenting research, discussing well, and giving useful feedback A structured introduction to academic presentation and discussion: framing a contribution, positioning in literature, communicating identification and data needs, and giving actionable comments. This session is based on a short course note developed at Skatteforsk (discussion guidelines, comment templates, and common pitfalls).

Student workshop: Participants are divided into groups. Each student presents a short research sketch, receives feedback from peers and faculty, responds, and then serves as discussant for others. The aim is to practice the core "seminar reality" of academic work.

Practical information

The course is free of charge. Skatteforsk will cover hotel and meals during the course days for participants.

Participants are expected to cover travel costs through their home institutions, and if this is not possible, they may apply for travel support from the Nordic Tax Research Council (rolling deadline; typically fast processing). A link will be provided in the course announcement. If travel support application is documentably denied by the Nordic Tax Research Council, the participants may apply for travel cost contribution at skatteforsk@nmbu.no on a case-by-case basis.

Knowledge. After completing the course, the candidate

• Has advanced knowledge of how environmental taxation and climate policy instruments interact with inequality through incidence, behavioural responses, and compensation mechanisms.
• Understands central theoretical frameworks and core empirical approaches in research on carbon pricing, distributional impacts, green innovation, and political support for climate policy.
• Has insight into measurement challenges, including differences between consumption-based, income-based, and ownership-based perspectives on emissions and burdens.
• Recognizes key open research questions at the intersection of taxes, inequality, climate risks, and the green transition.

Skills. After completing the course, the candidate can:

• Critically assess academic research in the field and identify strengths and weaknesses in research design, data choices, and causal inference.
• Formulate and communicate a feasible research question and outline an empirical strategy, including data requirements and identification concerns.
• Present a research sketch clearly to an academic audience and respond constructively to comments.
• Act as a professional discussant, providing structured, concrete, and useful feedback to peers.

General competence. After completing the course, the candidate:

• Demonstrates the ability to engage in scholarly discussion with high professional standards, including constructive critique and respectful disagreement.
• Contributes to a strong research environment by participating actively in peer review and seminar-style feedback.
• Can connect course insights to their own research agenda and identify opportunities for collaboration across fields and institutions.
• Strengthens academic networking skills through interaction with peers and senior researchers in the course.