Economic Analysis of Business Taxation
Business tax reform is an ongoing area of policy interest at both the federal and state level in the United States, as well as in many other nations. Recent legislation that changed statutory corporate rates and investment incentives, particularly the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, has drawn attention to how business income is taxed and how changes in business taxation affect economic outcomes. Internationally, policymakers are grappling with the challenge of taxing capital income in an environment where businesses retain significant discretion over where to report that income. Research can play a vital role in informing these debates by analyzing how current tax systems and potential alternatives affect investment, employment, and the distribution of real incomes.
To advance analysis of these issues, on Friday, October 23, 2026, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), with the generous support of the Smith Richardson Foundation, will convene a research conference. The program will be organized by Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato (Stanford and NBER) and Eric Zwick (University of Chicago and NBER).
Examples of topics that would be suitable for research presentations include, but are not limited to:
- Incidence of business taxation across workers, owners, and consumers
- How labor market frictions and institutions shape corporate tax incidence
- Firm ownership structures and the incidence of corporate taxes
- Effects of business taxes on consumer prices
- How tax policy impacts inequality of worker compensation within and across firms
- Interest deductibility limits and firm financing decisions
- Private equity responses to business tax reform
- Taxes and corporate payout, financing, and capital structure decisions
- Profit shifting and international tax provisions under the TCJA
- Effects of tax policy on R&D, innovation, and growth
- Innovation incentives and the distribution of gains from R&D
To be considered for presentation, papers or work-in-progress project summaries of no more than five pages that might be suitable for short presentation slots, should be uploaded by 11:59pm ET on Wednesday, August 26, 2026 via the following link:
Please do not submit papers that will be published by October 2026. Time for short presentations of new projects will be allocated primarily to early-career researchers. Submissions from scholars who are early in their careers, members of groups that are under-represented in the economics profession, and who are not NBER affiliates are welcome. The program will be announced in early September.
NBER will cover the travel expenses for up to two authors per paper, and for one author for each short presentation. Questions about this meeting may be addressed to confer@nber.org.