| Day 2 - Friday, September 26 | |
| 8:30 – 9:00 | Registration and Coffee |
9:00 – 10:30
|
Brazil Session: Conditional Cash Transfers and Social Mobility in Brazil Chair: Thiago Scot (World Bank) “Do CCTs Create Conditions to Thrive? Bolsa Familia and Social Mobility in Brazil”
“Cash Transfers and Poverty Trap: Evidence from Bolsa Familia”
“Today's Bonus, Tomorrow's Budget: Equity-Efficiency Tradeoff in Performance-Based Transfers”
Discussant: Fernando Veloso, Research Director, Instituto Mobilidade e Desenvolvimento Social (Brazil) |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break |
11:00 –11:45
|
Fire-Session 3: International Taxation Evidence on Profit Shifting, Disclosure, and Information Exchange Chair: David Phillips (Institute for Fiscal Studies) "Profit Shifting after BEPS: The Analysis of Past Measures and Future Reforms”
“How Do Individuals Respond to an Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program? Evidence from Brazil”
“When Bankers become Informants: Behavioral Effects of Automatic Exchange of Information” |
| 11:45 – 11:50 | Break |
| 11:50 - 12:40 | Keynote Session - Key Developing Areas of International Tax Evasion Chair: Anne Brockmeyer (World Bank) Annette Alstadsæter, Professor at the School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Norway) |
| 12:40 - 13:30 | Lunch Break |
13:30 - 14:45 |
Session 3: Accountability and Social Protection: Evidence on Trust, Targeting, and Citizen Oversight in Public Service Delivery Chair: Laura Abramovsky (ODI Global and Institute for Fiscal Studies)
"Scaling Accountability: Experimental Evidence on Impacts of Citizen-Led Audits on Social Protection Delivery and Election Outcomes”
“Building Trust in Government: Evidence from Large-Scale Infrastructure Projects”
“Missing the Target: Does Increased Capacity of the Local Government Improve Beneficiary Selection?" |
| 14:45-15:00 | Coffee Break |
15:00- 16:15
|
Session 4: Emerging Tax Instruments and Policies Chair: Mazhar Waseem (University of Manchester) “The three body problem: Ecuador's tax on tax haven ownership”
“Carbon Taxation and Firm Behavior in Emerging Economies: Evidence from South Africa”
“Wealth and Property Taxation in the United States" |
| 16:15 – 16:25 | Break |
16:25 – 17:10 |
Fire-Session 4: Tax Compliance Chair: François Gerard (University College London and Institute for Fiscal Studies)
“Static and Dynamic Effects of Tax Audits on Corporate Tax Evasion, Indirect Tax Evasion, and Tax Non-Compliance"
"Enhancing Revenue Collection Capacity through Automation: Evidence from a VAT”
“Cashless Tax Systems: Voluntary vs. Mandated Digital Payments in Eswatini" |
| 17:10-17:15 | Closing Remarks |
Thank you for your interest! Conference recordings and additional content will be posted soon.
The 7th World Bank/ODI Global/IFS Public Finance Conference was held in London, UK, on September 25–26, 2025. This annual event brought together researchers and practitioners to discuss frontier research on public finance, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.
The 2025 conference included sessions on labor taxation and job creation, efficiency of the public sector, emerging tax instruments and policies, government accountability and procurement, and international tax reform. The agenda also featured country-focused sessions on Brazil and Uganda, highlighting recent research on tax policy, social protection, and development.
Keynote Address
The conference featured the following keynote presentations:
- Tim Besley, School Professor of Economics and Political Science and W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics at the London School of Economics.
- Annette Alstadsæter, Professor at the School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
Format
The conference took place in person in London, UK, on September 25-26 with streaming available for non-presenting attendees.
Organizing Partners
World Bank
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
ODI Global
UK Government Public Finance Centre of Expertise
NMBU - Skatteforsk - Centre for Tax Research
Academic Committee
Laura Abramovsky, Pierre Bachas, Anne Brockmeyer, Rishabh Choudhary, Lucie Gadenne, Pablo Garriga, François Gerard, Hazel Granger, Jonas Hjort, Christopher Hoy, Jonathan Karver, Justine Knebelmann, Kyle McNabb, Joana Naritomi, Marina Ngoma, Oyebola Okunogbe, David Phillips, Thiago Scot, Mahvish Shaukat, Dario Tortarolo, Yani Tyskerud, Ben Waltmann, Mazhar Waseem.
Organizing Team
Pierre Bachas, Christopher Hoy, Yani Tyskerud, Liliana Serrano Pajaro, Juan Luis Schiavoni, Richard Hughes, Rozeena Newell, Greg Opie.
Contact: Email us at datax@worldbank.org
You can find below the conference agenda. Click here for the full program.
- Agenda - Day 1
- Agenda - Day 2
- Related
| Day 1 - Thursday, September 25 | |
| 8:30–9:00 | Registration and Coffee |
| 9:00–10:30 |
Chair: Kyle McNabb (World Bank) “Tax Audits and their Distortionary Effects”
“You Can't Tax What You Can't See: Using Fixed Cargo Scanners to Combat Tax Evasion”
“Beyond the tax bill: Measuring tax compliance costs for Ugandan firms”
Discussant: Paul Lakuma, Domestic Revenue Mobilization Strategy (DRMS) Specialist at the Ministry of Finance (Uganda) |
10:30–10:40 |
Welcome Remarks: Anne Brockmeyer, Global Lead for Tax Data Analytics, World Bank |
| 10:40–11:00 | Coffee Break |
11:00–12:00
|
Fire-Session 1: Labor Market Formalization: Insights on Informality, Tax Policy, and Incentives Chair: Yani Tyskerud (Institute for Fiscal Studies) “The Role of Cash in Illegal Labor Market Practices: Evidence from Uruguay”
“Encouraging Formal Work: Experimental Evidence from Administrative Data in Jordan”
“Estimating employment responses to South Africa Employment Tax Incentive”
“Minimum wage and tax kink effects in the formal and informal sectors in Zambia” |
| 12:00–12:10 | Break |
| 12:10 - 13:00 | Keynote Session: Taxation and the State: Institutions, Incentives, and Development Chair: Imran Rasul (University College London and Institute for Fiscal Studies) Tim Besley, School Professor of Economics and Political Science and Sir Arthur Lewis, Professor of Development Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE) (United Kingdom) |
| 13:00 - 14:00 | Lunch Break |
| 14:00 - 15:15 | Session 1: Taxing Top Incomes: Progressivity, State Capacity, and Redistribution Chair: Joana Naritomi (London School of Economics) "Tax Progressivity and Inequality in Brazil: Evidence from Integrated Administrative Data”
“The Political Economy of Progressive Tax Reform: Experimental Evidence from Pakistan”
“Progressivity, fairness, and tax capacity: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of the Congo" |
| 15:15-15:35 | Coffee Break |
15.35- 16.50
|
Session 2: Government Accountability and Relations with Citizens Chair: Lucie Gadenne (Queen Mary University of London and Institute for Fiscal Studies) “Access to Loans and Local Development”
“Pay-to-Play: Political Contributions and Long-term Distortions in Public Procurement”
“Public Procurement and Firms: Evidence from Kenya” |
| 16:50 – 17:00 | Break |
17:00 – 18:00
|
Fire-Session 2: Social Protection and Efficiency of the Public Sector Chair: Mahvish Shaukat (World Bank) “Spillovers in Earnings Responses to Social Assistance Programs: Evidence from the Workplace”
“Financial Incentives, Pension Claiming, and the Value of Early Retirement Benefits”
“How (In)Efficient are Governments? Evidence from matched customs transactions data” |
DaTax: A Lab to Study Taxes, Firms and Jobs using Micro Data
Taxes and Government Revenue at the World Bank
Past conferences:
2024 Public Finance Conference Proceedings
5th World Bank/IFS/ODI Tax Conference: The Political Economy of Public Finances
4th World Bank Tax Conference: Global Tax Equity
3rd World Bank Tax Conference: New Tax Instruments
2nd World Bank Tax Conference: Taxing Personal Income and Wealth in Developing Countries