We warmly invite you to a Skatteforsk seminar with Tina Søreide from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). Her talk is titled “Studying illegal behavior using institutionally produced data” and will take place at NMBU, campus Ås on 5 March 2026 (10:00–11:00). To register, email us at skatteforsk@nmbu.no
Empirical research on tax evasion, financial crime, and regulatory non-compliance increasingly relies on large-scale datasets produced by public and private institutions. These data are often treated as proxies for underlying behavior. Yet illegal practice differs from most economic phenomena: actors actively seek to avoid detection, and what is observed reflects legal definitions, institutional design, and discovery processes rather than behavior alone.
In this seminar, Søreide discusses why it is crucial to consider how commonly used variables - such as audits, adjustments, reports, sanctions, and case outcomes - are shaped by reporting obligations, enforcement strategies, legal thresholds, and organizational priorities. Using examples from taxation, anti-money laundering, corruption, and competition policy, she shows how institutional changes can generate patterns in the data that do not correspond to changes in behavior. The seminar will be discussion-oriented and focus on how data-generation processes, selection mechanisms, and institutional change affect measurement and economic inference in studies of illegality.
The seminar is part of a PhD course by Skatteforsk. The talk is open for all (10:00–11:00). PhD students enrolled in the course participate until 12:00 (group exercises).
More about the course: PhD course “Topics in Research Ethics, Methods, and GDPR Compliance” (PHI450).
Bio: Tina Søreide
Tina Søreide is Professor of Law and Economics at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), Department of Auditing, Accounting and Law. She previously served as Director General of the Norwegian Competition Authority and has held advisory roles in government and international organizations. Her research focuses on corporate misconduct, regulatory enforcement, and institutional design, with particular attention to how legal and enforcement systems shape accountability, deterrence, and economic inference in studies of illegal behavior.
Practical information
- Date & time: 5. March 2026, 10:00-11:00 (course participants until 12:00)
- Location: NMBU, Campus Ås
- Room: Tårnbygningen, T451
- Want to register? Email us at skatteforsk@nmbu.no