We invite PhD students from the Nordic countries, or those working with Nordic data, to a three-day Public Economics course held in connection with the Nordic Public Policy Symposium (NPPS) at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences near Oslo.

Agenda

Day 1

Part 1 - Lectures

Professor Annette Alstadsæter (NMBU)

Professor Wojciech Kopczuk (Columbia University)

Professor Ron B. Davies (University College Dublin)

Themes include key developing areas in tax evasion, illicit financial flows, trade war, multinationals’ profits shifting, the measurement of top incomes, avoidance margins, and the interplay between tax incentives and legal forms, all of which are aimed at highlighting promising research gaps for doctoral students. A reading list will be circulated to students in advance.

Part 2 - Soft-skills session

How to write referee reports and give effective conference comments, led by experienced journal editors.

With: Ron B. Davies and Wojciech Kopczuk. Additional early-career experiences from PostDocs at Skatteforsk, Johannes Scheuerer and Andreas Økland.

Part 3 - Presentations/discussion

Students present their own paper or project idea in mentored groups and act as discussants for a peer presentation. These sessions are designed to strengthen both research content and academic communication.

Day 2-3

Scientific Workshop and Lecture

Students attend the NPPS, including the social event and dinner, to encourage interaction with senior researchers and foster new networks and ideas. Each student will write a referee report on a presented paper of their choice. Kopczuk’s keynote, “Business Organizational Forms and Taxation of High-Income Individuals,” forms part of the course curriculum.

Practicalities

Credits

The course qualifies for 5 ECTS (subject to home institution approval)

Assessment

To pass, students must attend all three days, present their own research or idea, discuss a peer’s presentation, and submit a referee report on a paper presented at NPPS.

Register

To register, please send an email to skatteforsk@nmbu.no by November 15th, including a brief description of your research interests. Subject to space availability, we aim to accept all.

Financial support

The course is free of charge, but students are expected to cover travel and accommodation costs over their home institution funds. Financial support is available by application to the Nordic Tax Research Council, with continuous responses: https://nsfr.se/research-grants/