Peter Birch Sørensen

Peter Birch Sørensen

Professor, Ingen jobbeskrivelse

Medlem af:

    CURRICULUM VITAE

    PETER BIRCH SØRENSEN

    Oktober 2015

     

    Address: Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 26, 1353 K, Copenhagen K, Denmark
    Telephone: +45 35 32 30 15. Mobile: 28 14 63 39. E-mail: Peter.Birch.Sorensen@econ.ku.dk


    Personal data: Born 1955, married, two children.

    Education: 1980: Master of Economics (cand.polit.), University of Copenhagen. 1985: Ph.D. in Economics (lic.polit.), University of Copenhagen


    Career

    1980-83: Ph.D. student, Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen.

    1981-82: Visiting Fulbright Scholar, Economics Department, University of Illinois, USA.

    1983-85: Assistant Professor of Economics, Royal Agricultural University, Copenhagen.

    1985-91: Associate Professor of Economics, University of Copenhagen.

    1991-95: Professor of Economics, Copenhagen Business School.

    1995-2010: Professor of Economics, University of Copenhagen.

    2010-2011: Assistant Governor and Chief Economist, Danmarks Nationalbank (on leave from the university)

    From 2011: Professor of Economics, University of Copenhagen


    Honours

    Fulbright Fellowship, 1981-82.

    First Prize of the Lundbeck Foundation 1990 for an essay on "Financing Public Expenditure in Denmark in the 1990s".

    Winner of the 1995 Daeyang Prize in Economics for the best article in Journal of Economic Integration.

    Winner of the award of the Finnish Society for Economic Research for the best article in the Finnish Economic Papers in 2005-2006.


    Scientific activities

    Research areas: Public Economics, Macroeconomics, Environmental Economics.

    Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

    Co-founder and Director 1998-2005 of the Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), supported by a grant from the Danish National Research Foundation.

    Research Fellow in the CESifo Research Network and former scientific coordinator of the network's activities in the area of Public Sector Economics.

    International Research Fellow of the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.

    International Fellow of the Tax Administration Research Centre at the University of Exeter.

    Member of the Advisory Board of the Norwegian Center for Taxation at the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen.

    International Fellow of Netspar, Network for Studies on Pensions, Aging and Retirement, Tilburg University, Netherlands.

    2006-2008: Member of the Mirrlees Review group preparing a report on "Reforming the Tax System for the 21st Century" for the Institute for Fiscal Studies, London.

    Member of the Board of Management of the International Institute of Public Finance (IIPF); Executive Vice President of that same organization 1997-99, Vice President of the IIPF 2005-2008.

    Chairman of the Scientific Committee for the 1995 Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance.

    1990-93: Scientific coordinator of an inter-Nordic research project on "Tax Policy in Small Open Economies", sponsored by the Nordic Economic Research Council.

    1993-95: Leader of the Copenhagen team within the Human Capital and Mobility research network on "Fiscal Implications of European Integration", funded by the European Commission.

    1996-98: Head of International Committee, Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen.

    2000-2005: Leader of EPRU team in the RTN research network on "The Analysis of International Capital Markets: Understanding Europe's Role in the Global Economy", funded by the European Commission.

    1999-2007: Member of the Board of Management of the Danish Economic Association.

    Editorial activities

    Member of the Editorial Boards of the following journals: International Tax and Public Finance; FINANZARCHIV (Public Finance Analysis); German Economic Review, CESifo Economic Studies, BuR Business Research, and Danish Journal of Economics (Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift).

    Former Co-editor of International Tax and Public Finance (1997-99) and FINANZARCHIV (2000-2004).

    Associate Editor of the European Economic Review 1994-2000; member of the Economic Policy Panel 1998-2000.

    Guest Editor of a special issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 1994; Guest Editor of a special issue of International Tax and Public Finance, 1996.

    Editor of the following book volumes: Tax Policy in the Nordic Countries, MacMillan Press, 1998; Public Finance in A Changing World, MacMillan Press, 1998; Measuring the Tax Burden on Capital and Labour, MIT Press, 2004; European Monetary Integration - Historical Perspectives and Prospects for the Future, DJOEF Publishing, 2004; Tax Policy and Labor Market Performance, MIT Press, 2006.


    Invited lectures

    Invited plenary speaker at the following international conferences: 54th Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance, 1998; Annual Congress of the German Economic Association (Verein für Sozialpolitik), 2001; CESifo Venice Summer Institute, 2006; 62nd Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance, 2006; CESifo-IFIR conference on "New Directions in Fiscal Federalism", 2006; Brussels Tax Forum, European Commission, 2008; 20th Congress of the Società italiana di economia pubblica (Italian Society of Public Economics), 2008; Brussels Tax Forum, European Commission, 2011; Munich Economic Summit, 2011; Brussels International Economic Forum, 2011; IMF and Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance conference on "Controlling Public Spending in Advanced Economies", 2011.


    International public service

    Consultant to the Fiscal Affairs Division, OECD (1990-91); consultant to the Committee of Independent Experts on Company Taxation ('Ruding Committee'), established by the EC Commission (1991-92); consultant to the Ministry of Finance, Sweden (1993); consultant on tax policy to the Nordic Council of Finance Ministers (2002); member of the Norwegian government tax reform committee (2002-2003); consultant on tax policy to the International Monetary Fund (2003, 2005, 2006 and 2008); member of the Group of Economic Analysis established by the European Commission's Group of Policy Advisers (2001-2004); consultant on tax policy to the Canadian Department of Finance (2006); consultant on tax policy to the Swedish Ministry of Finance (2007-08); consultant to the Expert Group on Public Economics (ESO) at the Swedish Ministry of Finance 2009-2010; consultant to the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council 2012. 2013-2014: Member of the Norwegian government committee on corporate tax reform. 2014-2015: Member of the Norwegian Productivity Commission established by the Norwegian government.


    Danish public service

    Consultant to the Ministry of Taxation (1988) and the Ministry of Domestic Affairs (1988); consultant to the Ministry of the Environment (1990); member of the government Committee on Structural Problems in the Labour Market (1992); member of the government Committee on Reform of the Personal Income Tax System (1992).

    1996-97: Independent Expert Member of the Danish Economic Council, an advisory body to the Danish government.

    1997-99: Co-chairman of the Danish Economic Council.

    2001: Member of the Danish government committee on "Tax Policy and Internationalisation".

    2004-2009: Head Chairman of the Danish Economic Council.

    2010-2011: Assistant Governor and Chief Economist, Danish Central Bank (Danmarks Nationalbank)

    2012-2014: Chairman of the Danish Productivity Committee, established by the Danish government

    From 2012: Member of the Research Panel of the independent think tank Kraka

    From 2014: Head of the Danish Climate Council established by law by the Danish Parliament.

     

    PUBLICATIONS

    Journal articles in English

    "Countercyclical versus passive monetary policy in a medium-run macro model". Scandinavian Journal of Economics, vol. 86, no. 4, 1984.

    "Taxation, inflation and asset accumulation in a small open economy", European Economic Review, vol. 30, 1986: 1025-1041.

    "Reforms of Danish capital income taxation in the 1980s". Finnish Economic Papers, vol. 1, no. 1, 1988.

    "Capital income taxation in a growing open economy", European Economic Review, vol.34, 1991: 179-197 (with Søren Bo Nielsen).

    "Scope and limits of fiscal policy coordination in the EC", Tokyo Club Papers, no. 1, Part 1, 1991 (with Annelise Hermann, Willi Leibfritz and Chang Woon Nam).

    "Human capital investment, government, and endogenous growth", FinanzArchiv, no. 1, 1993.

    "Capital taxation, inflation and housing investment - The long run in a small open economy", Canadian Journal of Economics, no. 1, 1994 (with Søren Bo Nielsen).

    "From the global income tax to the dual income tax - Recent tax reforms in the Nordic countries", International Tax and Public Finance, no. 1, 1994.

    "Labor tax reform, employment and intergenerational distribution", Scandinavian Journal of Economics, no. 3, 1994 (with Svend Erik Hougaard Jensen, Søren Bo Nielsen, and Lars Haagen Pedersen).

    "Some old and new issues in the theory of corporate income taxation", FinanzArchiv 51, 1994.

    "Subsidising consumer services: Effects on employment, welfare and the informal economy", Fiscal Studies, no. 2, 1995 (with Niels Kleis Frederiksen, Peter Reinhard Hansen and Henrik Jacobsen. Also published in OECD Documents: Employment and Growth in the Knowledge-based Economy, OECD 1996).

    "Indirect taxation in an integrated Europe: Is there a way of avoiding trade distortions without sacrificing national tax autonomy?", Journal of Economic Integration, 10(2), June 1995 (with Bernd Genser and Andreas Haufler. Also published in A. Razin and H.-J. Vosgerau, eds., Trade and Tax Policy, Inflation and Exchange Rates - A Modern View, Springer-Verlag, 1997 ).

    "Changing views of the corporate income tax", National Tax Journal, June 1995 (also published in Joel Slemrod (ed.), Tax Policy in the Real World, Cambridge University Press, 1999).

    "Environmental policy, pollution, unemployment and endogenous growth", International Tax and Public Finance, no. 2, 1995 (with Søren Bo Nielsen and Lars Haagen Pedersen).

    "Tax policy, housing and the labour market - An intertemporal simulation approach", Economic Modelling 13, 1996 (with Svend Erik Hougaard Jensen, Søren Bo Nielsen and Lars Haagen Pedersen).

    "On the optimality of the Nordic system of dual income taxation", Journal of Public Economics, 63, 1997 (with Søren Bo Nielsen).

    "Public finance solutions to the European unemployment problem?", Economic Policy, no. 25, October 1997.

    "Optimal tax progressivity in imperfect labour markets", Labour Economics, 6, 1999.

    "Optimal taxation with household production", Oxford Economic Papers, 52, 2000 (with Henrik Jacobsen and Wolfram F. Richter).

    "The case for international tax coordination reconsidered", Economic Policy, no. 31, October 2000 (also published in Mehmet Ugur: Macroeconomic Policy in Open Economies: A Reader. Routledge, Blackwell Publishers)

    "Tax Coordination in the EU - What Are the Issues?" Swedish Economic Policy Review, 8, no. 2, Fall 2001.

    "The German Business Tax Reform of 2000 - A General Equilibrium Analysis". German Economic Review, 3, 2002.

    "International Tax Competition: A New Framework for Analysis". Economic Analysis and Policy, 33, 2003.

    "Company Tax Reform in the European Union". International Tax and Public Finance, 11, 2004.

    "Labour tax reform, the good jobs and the bad jobs". Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 106, 2004 (with Henrik Kleven).

    "International tax coordination - regionalism versus globalism". Journal of Public Economics, 88, 2004.

    "Improving the Equity-Efficiency Trade-Off: Mandatory Savings Accounts for Social Insurance". International Tax and Public Finance, 11, 2004 (with A. Lans Bovenberg).

    "Neutral taxation of shareholder income". International Tax and Public Finance, 12, 2005.

    "Taxation of shareholder income and the cost of capital in an open economy: theory and applications to the Nordic countries", Danish Journal of Economics, 143, 2005.

    "Dual income taxation: why and how?", FinanzArchiv, 61, 2005.

    "Outsourcing of public service provision: When is it more efficient?". Finnish Economic Papers 19, 2006 (with Andreas Knabe).

    "The theory of optimal taxation - What is the policy relevance?". International Tax and Public Finance, 14, 383-406,2007.

    "Can capital income taxes survive? And should they?" CESifo Economic Studies 53, 172-228, 2007.

    "The Nordic dual income tax: Principles, practices and relevance for Canada". Canadian Tax Journal 55, 557-602, 2007.

    "The dilemmas of tax coordination in the enlarged European Union". CESifo Economic Studies 53, November 2007 (with Jens Brøchner, Jesper Jensen and Patrik Svensson).

    "Individual savings accounts for social insurance: rationale and alternative designs". International Tax and Public Finance 15, 67-86, 2008 (with A. Lans Bovenberg and Martin Ino Hansen).

    "The effects of tax competition when politicians create rents to buy political support". Journal of Public Economics 92, 1142-1163, 2008 (with Wolfgang Eggert).

    "Optimal social insurance with linear income taxation". Scandinavian Journal of Economics 111, 251-275, 2009 (with A. Lans Bovenberg).

    "The theory of optimal taxation: New developments and policy relevance". Danish Journal of Economics, 148, 212-244, 2010.

    "Developments in the market for owner-occupied housing in recent years - Can house prices be explained?" Danmarks Nationalbank, Monetary Review, First Quarter 2011, Part 2, 1-82 (with Niels Arne Dam, Tina Saaby Hvolbøl, Erik Haller Pedersen and Susanne Hougaard Thamsborg).

    "Can house-price fluctuations be dampened?" Danmarks Nationalbank, Monetary Review, First Quarter 2011, Part 2, 83-121 (with Niels Arne Dam, Tina Saaby Hvolbøl and Erik Haller Pedersen).

    "Efficient redistribution of lifetime income through welfare accounts". Fiscal Studies 33, 1-37, 2012 (with A. Lans Bovenberg and Martin Ino Hansen).

    "Measuring the deadweight loss from taxation in a small open economy - A general method with an application to Sweden". Journal of Public Economics 117, 115-124, 2014.


    Comments in international journals

    "New perspectives on the role of government", International Tax and Public Finance, 3, 1996.

    "Comment on taxation and corporate investment: the impact of the 1991 Swedish tax reform", Swedish Economic Policy Review, no. 2, 1995.

    "Comment on Allen, Gasiorek and Smith: the competition effects of the single market in Europe", Economic Policy, no. 27, October 1998.

    "Comment on Besley and Seabright: the effects and policy implications of state aids to industry: an economic analysis", Economic Policy, no. 28, April 1999.

    "Comment on Casella: Tradable deficit permits: efficient implementation of the Stability Pact in the European Monetary Union, Economic Policy, no. 29, October 1999.

    "Comment on Bover, Garcia-Perea and Portugal: Iberian labour markets - Why Spain and Portugal are OECD outliers", Economic Policy, no. 31, 2000.

    "To Harmonise or Not to Harmonise?" CESifo Forum, Spring 2002.

    "Competing social models in the global economy" CESifo Forum, no. 3, 2011.

     


    Contributions to book volumes in English

    "Taxation, budget deficits and economic performance: Some reflections on the Danish experience", in Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference of the Foundation for Fiscal Studies, Dublin 1988.

    "Optimal capital taxation in a small capital-importing economy", in Vito Tanzi (ed.), Public Finance, Trade, and Development, Proceedings of the 44th Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance, Istanbul, 1988. Wayne State University Press, 1990.

    "Taxation of income, consumption and wages in an open economy", in Manfred Rose (ed.), Heidelberg Conference on Taxing Consumption, Springer-Verlag, 1990.

    "The welfare gains from international fiscal coordination", in Remy Prud'homme (ed.), Public Finance with Several Levels of Government, Proceedings of the 46th Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance, Bruxelles, 1990.

    "The effects of taxation on international investment and economic efficiency", Annex 5A in Report of the Committee of Independent Experts on Company Taxation ("Ruding Committee"), Commission of the European Communities, Brussels and Luxembourg, March 1992.

    "Comments on tax competition and harmonization in federal economies", in H.-J. Vosgerau (ed.), European Integration in the World Economy, Springer-Verlag, 1992.

    "Pollution taxes and international competitiveness", in Environmental Policies and Industrial Competitiveness, OECD Documents, Paris 1993.

    "Recent tax reform experiments in Scandinavia", in L. Stetting, K.E. Svendsen and E. Yndgaard (eds.), Global Change and Transformation - Economic Essays in Honor of Karsten Laursen, Munksgaard International Publishers, Copenhagen 1993.

    "Capital taxation, housing investment and wealth accumulation in a small open economy", in H. Frisch and A. Wörgötter (eds.), Open-Economy Macroeconomics, IEA Conference Volume no. 105, Macmillan, 1993 (with Søren Bo Nielsen).

    "Coordination of capital income taxation in the Economic and Monetary Union - What needs to be done?", in F. Giavazzi and F. Torres (eds.), Adjustment and Growth in the European Monetary Union, CEPR and Cambridge University Press, 1993.

    "Taxation of the selfemployed under a dual income tax - Taxation principles and tax reforms in the Nordic countries", in S. Cnossen (ed.): Towards a Dual Income Tax? Foundation for European Fiscal Studies, Rotterdam, Kluwer 1996.

    "Recent innovations in Nordic tax policy: from the global income tax to the dual income tax", in P.B. Sørensen (ed.), Tax Policy in the Nordic Countries, Macmillan Press, 1998.

    "Taxation of income from small businesses: taxation principles and tax reforms in the Nordic countries", in P.B. Sørensen (ed.), Tax Policy in the Nordic Countries, Macmillan Press, 1998 (with Kåre P. Hagen).

    "Corporate tax policy in the Nordic countries", in P.B.Sørensen (ed.), Tax Policy in the Nordic Countries, Macmillan Press, 1998 (with Krister Andersson, Vesa Kanniainen and Jan Södersten).

    "Financing the Nordic welfare states in an integrating Europe", in P.B. Sørensen (ed.), Tax Policy in the Nordic Countries, Macmillan Press, 1998 (with Kåre P. Hagen and Erik Norrman).

    "Nordic tax policy towards the year 2000 and beyond", in P.B. Sørensen (ed.), Tax Policy in the Nordic Countries, Macmillan Press, 1998.

    "Public finance in a changing world: introduction and summary", in P.B. Sørensen (ed.), Public Finance in a Changing World, Macmillan Press, 1998.

    "The Danish Tax Reform Act of 1993: effects on the macroeconomy and on intergenerational welfare", in T.M. Andersen, S.E.H. Jensen and O. Risager (eds.), Macroeconomic Perspectives on the Danish Economy, Macmillan Press, 1999.

    "Do we need tax coordination?", in D.A. Albregtse, A.L. Bovenberg and L.G.M. Stevens (eds.), Er Zal Geheven Worden! (Taxes Shall be Levied!), Liber Amicorum in Honour of Sijbren Cnossen, Kluwer, 2001.

    "Social insurance based on individual savings accounts", in S. Cnossen and H.-W. Sinn (eds.), Public Finance in the New Millennium, MIT Press, 2003.

    "Measuring taxes on capital and labour - An overview of methods and issues", in P.B. Sørensen (ed.), Measuring the Tax Burden on Capital and Labour, MIT Press, 2004.

    "Niels Thygesen and European Monetary Integration", in P.B. Sørensen (ed.), European Monetary Integration: Historical Perspectives and Prospects for the Future. Essays in Honour of Niels Thygesen. DJOEF Publishing, 2004.

    "Taxing capital income: options for reform in Australia", in proceedings from Australia's Future Tax and Transfer Policy Conference, Melbourne Institute, University of Melbourne, 2010 (with Shane M. Johnson)

    "Dual income taxes: a Nordic tax system", in Iris Claus, Norman Gemmell, Michelle Harding and David White (eds.), Tax Reform in Open Economies - International and Country Perspectives, Edward Elgar, 2010.

    "International capital taxation" (with Rachel Griffith and James R. Hines, Jr.). Chapter 10 in Dimensions of Tax Design: the Mirrlees Review, J. Mirrlees, S. Adam, T. Besley, R. Blundell, S. Bond, R. Chote, M. Gammie, P. Johnson, G. Myles and J. Poterba (eds), Oxford University Press, 2010.

    "House prices in Denmark and Sweden" (with Michael Bergman and Bjørn Sillemann). Chapter 7 in Reform Capacity and Macroeconomic Performance in the Nordic Countries, M. Bergman, S.E.H. Jensen and T.M. Andersen (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2015.

     

     

    Selected publications in Danish

    "Devaluering og finanspolitik under alternative pengepolitiske regimer", Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift no. 1, 1983. ("Devaluation and fiscal policy under alternative monetary policy regimes", Danish Journal of Economics).

    "Er statens budgetunderskud rentedrivende?", Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, no. 1, 1984. ("Do government budget deficits drive up interest rates?", Danish Journal of Economics).

    "Det monetaristiske syn på stabiliseringspolitikken", Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, no. 1, 1985. ("The monetarist view of stabilization policy", Danish Journal of Economics).

    "Offentlig contra privat gæld: En kommentar", Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, no. 3, 1988. ("Public versus private debt - A comment", Danish Journal of Economics).

    "Afskrivningsregler, investeringer og udlandsgæld", Økonomi og Politik, no. 4, 1988. ("Depreciation allowances, investment and foreign debt", Economics and Politics).

    "Skattepolitikken og ejerboligmarkedet - teori og empiri", Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, no. 1, 1993. ("Tax policy and the market for owner-occupied housing - Theory and evidence", Danish Journal of Economics, with T.M. Andersen, H.J. Jacobsen, C. Koch and H.O. Larsen).

    "Indkomstskat, beskæftigelse og velfærd", Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift (festskrift til Anders Ølgaard), 1996 ("Income taxation, employment and welfare", Danish Journal of Economics).

    "Subsidiering af husholdningstjenester: Teoretiske argumenter og praktiske erfaringer fra Danmark", Ekonomisk Debatt, no. 5, 1996 ("Subsiding consumer services: theoretical aspects and evidence from Denmark")

    "Valutarisiko, kapitalomkostning og makrodynamik", Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, no. 3, 1997. ("Exchange rate risk, the cost of capital, and macroeconomic dynamics", Danish Journal of Economics)

    "Skatter och sysselsättning i tjenestesektorn", Ekonomisk Debatt, no. 7, 1998 ("Taxation and service sector employment").

    "Betalingsbalancemålsætningen - En kommentar", Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, no. 3, 1999 ("Targeting the current account - A comment", Danish Journal of Economics).

    "Statsskatteloven i skatteøkonomisk belysning", SR-Skat, no. 3, Maj 2003 ("The Danish Income Tax Law of 1903 Evaluated from the Perspective of a Tax Economist").

    "Skattepolitikken og arbejdsmarkedet" ("Tax policy and the labour market"), Økonomi og Politik nr. 4, 2007 (with Jan Rose Skaksen).

    "Nedturen i dansk økonomi - Hvor meget var selvforskyldt?" ("The downturn in the Danish economy - How much was our own fault?" Samfundsøkonomen nr. 1, 2010.

    "Finanskrisen og den økonomiske videnskab" (The financial crisis and economic science), Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, no. 3, 2011.

    "Boligboblen der bristede: Kan boligpriserne forklares? Og kan deres udsving dæmpes?" (The housing bubble that bursted: Can house prices be explained? And can their volatility be dampened?) Danmarks Nationalbank, Kvartalsoversigt, 1. kvartal 2011, Del 1 (with Niels Arne Dam, Tina Saaby Hvolbøl, Erik Haller Pedersen and Susanne Hougaard Thamsborg).

    "Jagten på det gode skattesystem" (The quest for the good tax system"). Bidrag til festskrift for Niels Kærgård: Hvordan ser verden ud? Redigeret af Peder Andersen, Henrik Zobbe, Jørn Henrik Petersen og Ingrid Henriksen. Djøf Forlag, København 2012.

    "Vismændene og dansk økonomi i 00'erne" (The 'Wise Men' and the Danish economy in the 2000s). De Økonomiske Råd, Jubilæumsskrift 1962-2012, København 2012.

     

    Reports

    Swedish Tax Policy: Recent Trends and Future Challenges. Report to the Expert Group on Public Economics, 2010:4, Ministry of Finance, Stockholm 2010.

    The Swedish Housing Market - Trends and Risks. Report to the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council, 2013/5. Stockholm 2013.

     


    Textbooks

    Økonomisk politik i en åben økonomi, Copenhagen 1986. (Economic Policy in An Open Economy).

    Introducing Advanced Macroeconomics - Growth and Business Cycles. McGraw-Hill, Second Edition, 2010 (with Hans Jørgen Whitta-Jacobsen).

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