First Report on Public Finance, Fondazione Rosselli

Call for Papers

Contributions are being sought for the First Report on Public Finance by Italy’s Fondazione Rosselli. Deadline for submissions is 30 November 2010. For further details, see the call for papers, or visit www.fondazionerosselli.it

Annual Meeting of the Canadian Public Economics Group

Kingston, Canada, 12-13 November 2010

The Canadian Public Economics Group (CPEG) will hold its annual meeting on November 12 and 13, 2010 in Kingston.  A highlight of the conference will be an invited panel on “Tax By Design:  Mirrlees Review, Reforming the Tax System for the 21st Century”.

If you are interested in presenting at the meetings, please send a paper or a detailed abstract to the chair of the scientific committee (submission@cpeg.ca). If you would like to participate as a discussant, please email the chair of the local organizing committee (organizer@cpeg.ca). The deadline for submissions is August 31, 2010.

More information about the meeting at www.cpeg.ca.

See call for papers in  English  |  French

International Conference on Tax Policy Decision-Making

October 14-15, 2010, Mannheim, Germany

The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), together with the University of Mannheim’s Department of Economics and the Collaborative Research Center SFB 884 "Political Economy of Reforms", will hold a conference addressing the permanent contrast between tax policies recommended by normative tax theory and real world tax policy decisions. Among the questions to be explored are how voters forms their tax policy preferences, the link between voters' preferences and the policy decisions by political representatives, and the importance of institutions and economic and constitutional constraints, among other issues.

See Call for Papers

Further info on the conference: www.zew.de/taxpolicy2010

Lowell Harriss passes away

A long-term IIPF member, Professor Lowell Harriss of Columbia University, has passed away, at the age of 97. Many of you may remember Professor Harris, who until recently was a regular attender of IIFP Congresses and a good friend of the Institute. He was, of course, a distinguished public finance scholar. You can find more information about him at

http://www.gs.columbia.edu/news-article-find-out-more?ntitle=3858

Vito Tanzi about IIPF annual congresses 1992 and 1997

Professor Vito Tanzi, Honorary President of IIPF, recently published his book Peoples, Places and Policies: China, Japan and Southeast Asia (New York: 2008). Two IIPF annual congresses, Korea 1992 and Kyoto 1997, and some events connected with them are described in this book. It may therefore contribute to the history of the IIPF and encourage IIPF members to relate similar experiences in future books.

People and events prominently mentioned in the book:
In 1992 the chairman of the local organizing committee was Professor Seung Soo Han. He is now the Prime Minister of Korea. One of the keynote speakers was Professor Larry Summers. A few years after the Korea congress he became the US Treasury Secretary and is now the main economic adviser to President Obama.
Two Nobel Prize winners in economics attended the IIPF annaul congress in Kyoto in 1997. The first round of the historical debate between Professors James Buchanan and Richard Musgrave took place, which would result later in an important book. Vito Tanzi's book can be purchased via Amazon.