Professor Niels Johannesen

Niels Johannesen
Asset register 100072
Director, Centre for Business Taxation
niels.johannesen@sbs.ox.ac.uk

Niels Johannesen is Director of the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation at Saïd Business School and a part-time Professor of Economics at the University of Copenhagen.

Niels joined the School in 2023 after more than 10 years at the University of Copenhagen.

He has a PhD in Economics from the University of Copenhagen and has held visiting positions at the University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan and the European University Institute, Florence.

Research
Niels’s research currently focuses on two main areas:

Taxation of firms and capital
Household finance

Much of his tax research revolves around tax evasion and tax avoidance through tax havens and global policy initiatives to enhance tax compliance. His work on household finance concerns household decisions about spending, investment and savings when faced with economic shocks.

His published papers and current working papers are available at his personal website www.nielsjohannesen.net.

Teaching

Niels currently teaches:

  • MBA: Firms and Markets
  • MSc in Taxation

Engagement
Niels has been highly active in global policy debates about offshore tax evasion. He has given policy talks drawing on his research at the OECD Global Forum, the European Commission and the parliaments in Denmark and the Netherlands. He is currently serving on an Expert Committee on Business Subsidies appointed by the Danish government.

Publications

“Monetary Policy and Inequality”, Journal of Finance 78(5), 2023, p. 2945-2989 (with Asger Lau Andersen, Mia Jørgensen and Jose-Luis Peydro).

“Elite Capture of Foreign Aid: Evidence from Offshore Bank Accounts”, Journal of Political Economy 130(2), 2022, p. 388-425 (with Jørgen Juel Andersen and Bob Rijkers).

“Social distancing laws cause only small losses of economic activity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scandinavia”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020, 2010068117 (with Adam Sheridan, Asger Lau Andersen and Emil Toft Hansen).

“Tax Evasion and Inequality”, American Economic Review 109(6), 2019, p. 2073-2103 (with Annette Alstadsæter and Gabriel Zucman).

“The Consumption Effects of the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis: Evidence from Households in Denmark”, American Economic Review 107(11), 2017, p. 3386-3414 (with Thais Lærkholm Jensen).