What is the right level of tax progression? What are the consequences of basic income? How should universities be financed? What is the right way to support poor people? How should the pension system be financed? How limiting are the external constraints on public finance? What is the degree of inequality in Finland? Should local communities be supported by the government and if yes, how? How should usage of common goods such as natural resources be regulated?
Public Economics Research Group
Public economics provides a framework for thinking about the planner’s or the government’s intervention to the market. To this end, microeconomic models are used to assess how various market failures, inefficiencies, and inequalities can be corrected.
Much of modern public economics is related to inequality. The market economy does not necessarily produce a socially desirable distribution of income, and government intervention is again needed. Public economics research can inform policy discussion about the impacts of inequalities, how effective public policies are in reducing them, and how policymakers can address possible tradeoffs between economic efficiency and distributional equity.
At the core of public economic analysis are various policy measures, including taxes, provision of public goods, and regulatory actions. Research in contemporary public economics is increasingly empirical. Impact evaluation methods and sufficient statistics approaches are used to attempt to credibly estimate the impact of policy instruments and reforms on taxpayer and individual behavior.
University of Helsinki and VATT Institute for Economic Research are part of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research, led by Professor Kaisa Kotakorpi of Tampere University.
Members
Jukka Pirttilä
Chair of the group,
Professor
jukka.pirttila at helsinki.fi
Homepage
Kwabena Adu-Ababio
Member,
PhD student
kwabena.adu-ababio at helsinki.fi
Marja-Liisa Halko
Member,
University Lecturer
marja-liisa.halko at helsinki.fi
Homepage
Jarkko Harju
Member,
Research Professor
jarkko.harju at vatt.fi
Homepage
Anni Huhtala
Member,
Associate Research Professor
anni.huhtala at vatt.fi
Homepage
Kristiina Huttunen
Member,
Associate Professor
kristiina.huttunen at aalto.fi
Homepage
Arttu Kahelin
Member,
PhD student
arttu.kahelin at aalto.fi
Salla Kalin
Member,
PhD student
salla.kalin at helsinki.fi
Seppo Kari
Member,
Chief Researcher
seppo.kari at vatt.fi
Homepage
Arttu Kauhanen
Member,
PhD student
arttu.kauhanen at helsinki.fi
Ilpo Kauppinen
Member,
Senior researcher
ilpo.kauppinen at vatt.fi
Homepage
Tuomas Kosonen
Member,
Research Professor
tuomas.kosonen at vatt.fi
Homepage
Kaisa Kotakorpi
Member,
Professor
kaisa.kotakorpi at vatt.fi
Anustup Kundu
Member,
PhD student
anustup.kundu at helsinki.fi
Homepage
Matti Liski
Member,
Professor
matti.liski at aalto.fi
Teemu Lyytikäinen
Member,
Associate Research Professor
teemu.lyytikainen at vatt.fi
Homepage
Juuso Mäkinen
Member,
PhD student
juuso.p.makinen at aalto.fi
Tuomas Matikka
Member,
Associate Research Professor
tuomas.matikka at vatt.fi
Homepage
Topi Miettinen
Member,
Professor
topi.miettinen at hanken.fi
Kimmo Palanne
Member,
PhD student
kimmo.palanne at aalto.fi
Tuomas Pekkarinen
Member,
Research Professor
tuomas.pekkarinen at vatt.fi
Homepage
Teemu Pekkarinen
Member,
PhD student
teemu.pekkarinen at helsinki.fi
Homepage
Hanna Pesola
Member,
Chief Researcher
hanna.pesola at vatt.fi
Homepage
Tuukka Saarimaa
Member,
Professor
tuukka.saarimaa at aalto.fi
Homepage
Jussipekka Salo
Member,
PhD student
jussipekka.salo at helsinki.fi
Torsten Santavirta
Member,
Professor
torsten.santavirta at helsinki.fi
Homepage
Tom-Henrik Sirviö
Member,
PhD student
tom-henrik.sirvio at helsinki.fi
Roope Uusitalo
Member,
Professor
roope.uusitalo at helsinki.fi
Jouko Verho
Member,
Senior researcher
jouko.verho at vatt.fi
Marika Viertola
Member,
PhD student
marika.viertola at aalto.fi
Upcoming Seminars
17 Sep 2019
Labor and Public
Divided they Fall. Fragmented Parliaments and Government Stability (with Davide Cipullo and Luca Repetto)
- Felipe Carozzi
- LSE
1 Oct 2019
Labor and Public
Optimal taxation of capital income with heterogeneous rates of return
- Aart Gerritsen
- Erasmus University Rotterdam
15 Oct 2019
Labor and Public
Firm- and individual-level responses to labor immigration
- Cristina Bratu
- Aalto University
29 Oct 2019
Labor and Public
First year of the Finnish Basic Income Experiment
- Jouko Verho
- VATT
12 Nov 2019
Labor and Public
The Crime Ladder: Estimating the Impact of Different Punishments on Defendant Outcomes (with Martti Kaila and Emily Nix)
- Kristiina Huttunen
- VATT and Aalto University
26 Nov 2019
Labor and Public
The Impact of Local Property Taxation on Firm Growth and Location: Evidence from Flanders
- Sander Ramboer
- VATT
10 Dec 2019
Labor and Public
RESCHEDULED TO SPRING 2020
- David Seim
- Stockholm University
12 Dec 2019
Labor and Public
Labor and Public Economics PhD Workshop
- Labor and Public Economics PhD Workshop
10 Dec 2019
Labor and Public
Siblings’ Effects on College and Major Choice: Evidence from Chile, Croatia and Sweden
- Andrés Barrios Fernandez
- VATT
26 May 2020
Labor and Public
- Labor/Public PhD workshop
14 Apr 2020
Labor and Public
TBA
- Hanna Virtanen
- Etla
28 Apr 2020
Labor and Public
Health Information Technology and Quality of Prescribing
Organized via ZOOM
- Petri Böckerman
- JYU
12 May 2020
Labor and Public
Bookworms, nerds and alpha males: the impact of skill bundling on labor market outcomes
Organized via ZOOM
- Ramin Izadi
- Aalto University
15 Sep 2020
Labor and Public
Labor market competition, wages, and worker mobility
- Flavio Hafner
- Aalto University
29 Sep 2020
Labor and Public
The Rise of For-Profit Higher Education: A General Equilibrium Analysis (with Ioana Schiopu (ESADE Business School))
- Ciprian Domnisoru
- Aalto University
13 Oct 2020
Labor and Public
Love Thy (Elected) Neighbor? Residential segregation, political representation and local public goods
- Janne Tukiainen
- University of Turku/VATT
27 Oct 2020
Labor and Public
Can a wage subsidy system help reduce 50 per cent youth unemployment? (joint with Jukka Pirttilä)
- Amina Ebrahim
- UNU-WIDER
10 Nov 2020
Labor and Public
Pre-college skills and educational wage differentials
- Tuomas Pekkarinen
- VATT
24 Nov 2020
Labor and Public
Sibling spillovers in education: Evidence from parallel natural experiments
- Hanna Virtanen
- Aalto University
8 Dec 2020
Labor and Public
The Advantage of Incumbents in Coalitional Bargaining (with Janne Tukiainen)
- Jaakko Meriläinen
- ITAM
1 Dec 2020
Labor and Public
Labor/Public PhD workshop
9 Mar 2021
Labor and Public
Regulating Conglomerates: Evidence From an Energy Conservation Program in China
- Juan Carlos Suarez Serrato
- Duke University
23 Mar 2021
Labor and Public
Commuting time and the gender gap in labor market participation
- Jordi Jofre-Monseny
- Universitat de Barcelona and IEB
6 Apr 2021
Labor and Public
Accounting for Business Income in Measuring Top Income Shares: Integrated Accrual Approach Using Individual and Firm Data from Norway
- Annette Alstadsaeter
- Norwegian University of Life Sciences
18 May 2021
Labor and Public
An Economical Business-Cycle Model
- Pascal Michaillat
- Brown University
1 Jun 2021
Labor and Public
The Gender Recontest Gap in Elections
- Zohal Hessami
- Mannheim
20 Apr 2021
Labor and Public
The Labour Market Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns: Evidence from Ghana
- Simone Schotte
- UNU-WIDER
4 May 2021
Labor and Public
Re-Evaluating Technologies’ Effects on Work
- Joonas Tuhkuri
- MIT
2 Jun 2021
Labor and Public
Labor and Public PhD Workshop organized by Helsinki GSE and FDPE
27 Sep 2021
Labor and Public
Helsinki GSE/FDPE Labor and Public Economics PhD Workshop
7 Sep 2021
Labor and Public
Behavioral Barriers and the Socioeconomic Gap in Child Care Enrollment
- Simon Wiederhold
- Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
21 Sep 2021
Labor and Public
Narrowing Distances between Workers from Disadvantaged Areas and Jobs
- Naomi Gershoni
- Ben-Gurion University
5 Oct 2021
Labor and Public
Do firms really want to pay lower wages? Evidence from a subminimum wage experiment (co-authors Petri Böckerman, Tuomas Kosonen and Henri Keränen)
- Toni Juuti
- PT
19 Oct 2021
Labor and Public
Overcoming Credit Constraints and Migrating Out of Rural and Economically Distressed America
- Jacob Bastian
- Rutgers University
2 Nov 2021
Labor and Public
Who Works Where and Why? Parental Networks and the Labor Market
- Shmuel San
- Hebrew University
16 Nov 2021
Labor and Public
The incidence of housing allowance: Quasi-experimental evidence
- Essi Eerola
- VATT
30 Nov 2021
Labor and Public
Skills, Mismatch, and Labor Market Search (with Arnaud Maurel, Andrew Shephard and Pengpeng Xiao)
- Ciprian Domnisoru
- Aalto University
14 Dec 2021
Labor and Public
Mortgage Debt and Household Expenditure: Evidence From a Debt Relief Program
- Arnaldur Stefansson
- Uppsala University
5 Oct 2021
Labor and Public
Do firms really want to pay lower wages? Evidence from a subminimum wage experiment (with Petri Böckerman, Tuomas Kosonen, and Henri Keränen)
- Toni Juuti
- PT
20 Dec 2021
Labor and Public
Labor and Public Economics PhD Workshop
22 Feb 2022
Labor and Public
Childcare, skills, and the labor market (with Juuso Mäkinen)
- Mikko Silliman (Harvard University)
22 Mar 2022
Labor and Public
Research productivity and the gender gap in scientific publication careers (with Christoph Hedtrich)
- Flavio Hafner (Aalto University)
19 Apr 2022
Labor and Public
Public and Parental Investments and Children’s Skill Formation (with Rasmus Landersø, Dorthe Bleses, Philip Dale, Anders Højen, Laura Justice)
- Miriam Gensowski (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit)
17 May 2022
Labor and Public
Child Development and age at enrollment in daycare (with Vibeke Myrup Jensen & Sarah Sander)
- Mette Gørtz (University of Copenhagen)
8 Feb 2022
Labor and Public
Paying Moms to Stay Home: Short and Long Run Effects on Children and Mothers
- Tuomas Kosonen (VATT)
8 Mar 2022
Labor and Public
The final straw: High school dropout for marginal students
- Martin Eckhoff Andresen (University of Oslo)
5 Apr 2022
Labor and Public
Ability and Capital
- Spencer Bastani (IFAU)
3 May 2022
Labor and Public
Pay Transparency and Gender Equality
- Stefania Simion (University of Bristol)
31 May 2022
Labor and Public
TBA
- Niels Johannesen (University of Copenhagen)
31 Mar 2022
Labor and Public
Labor & Public PhD Workshop
7 Jun 2022
Labor and Public
TBA
- Erik Wengström (Lund University and Hanken School of Economics)
8 Jun 2022
Labor and Public
