I am Professor of Economics and Public Policy and Head of the School of Economics
at the University of Nottingham. My research focuses on public economics,
charitable giving, philanthropy, tax policy, political economy and the use of
administrative and digital data to understand prosocial behaviour.
My work examines how public policy, institutions and incentives shape giving,
taxation, public-good provision and social behaviour. Much of my recent research
studies charitable giving and philanthropy using administrative, experimental
and digital data, with a particular interest in what donor behaviour reveals
about motives, information, impact and the design of policy.
Philanthropy and giving
Charitable donations, fundraising, donor motives, tax incentives,
crowd-out, matching, social groups and online giving.
Public economics
Tax policy, public-good provision, fiscal institutions, political economy
and the design of public incentives.
Data and policy
Administrative data, social data science, policy evaluation and the use
of evidence in public decision-making.
Leadership and service
I have held senior academic leadership roles at Nottingham, Birmingham and
Warwick, and have served in national and international roles across research
funding, policy engagement, editorial leadership and disciplinary service.
Head of the School of Economics, University of Nottingham, 2022 to present.
Head of the Department of Economics, University of Birmingham, 2018 to 2022.
Member of Council, Economic and Social Research Council, 2023 to April 2026.
Chair, ESRC Research Training Advisory Group, 2025 to 2028.
Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, from 2021.
Chair, Scientific Advisory Board, CESifo, 2025 to 2028.
Scientific Advisory Council, Ifo Institute and CESifo, 2020 to 2028.
Director and Co-Founder, NAO/Birmingham Centre for Tax Research.
Founder and President, Public Economics UK.
Recent papers
What Donors Choose to Know: Information Demand and Motives for Giving.
With Danae Arroyos-Calvera and Johannes Lohse.
Working paper.
Nationalism and Cross-border Philanthropy.
With Carlo Perroni, Sarah Smith, Oleksandr Talavera and Linh Vi.
Working paper.
Local Crime and Prosocial Behaviors: Evidence from Charitable Donations.
With Carlo Perroni, Sarah Smith, Oleksandr Talavera and Linh Vi.
Revise and resubmit, The Economic Journal.
Beauty Premia in Wage Offers: Evidence from Vietnamese Online Job Postings.
With Carlo Perroni, Oleksandr Talavera and Linh Vi.
Revise and resubmit, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.
Online Salience and Charitable Giving: Evidence from SMS Donations.
With Carlo Perroni, Oleksandr Talavera and Linh Vi.
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2022.
Lift and Shift: The Effect of Fundraising Interventions in Charity Space and Time.
With Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm and Sarah Smith.
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2022.
Selected earlier publications
More Giving or More Givers? The Effects of Tax Incentives on Charitable Donations in the UK.
With Miguel Almunia, Irem Guceri and Ben Lockwood.
Journal of Public Economics, 2020.
Are Donors Afraid of Core Costs? Economies of Scale and Contestability in Charity Markets.
With Carlo Perroni, Ganna Pogrebna and Sarah Sandford.
The Economic Journal, 2019.
Does Market Size Matter also for Charities?
With Simon La Pointe, Carlo Perroni and Janne Tukiainen.
Journal of Public Economics, 2018.
The Economics of Philanthropy.
Edited with Mirco Tonin. MIT Press, 2018.
Donations to Disaster Appeals.
With Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm and Sarah Smith.
In The Economics of Philanthropy, MIT Press, 2018.
Online Fundraising: The Perfect Ask?
With Abigail Payne and Sarah Smith.
In Social Economics: Current and Emerging Avenues, MIT Press, 2017.
Charitable Donations and Tax Relief in the UK.
With Sarah Smith.
In Charitable Giving and Tax Policy: A Historical and Comparative Perspective,
Oxford University Press, 2016.
Relational Warm Glow and Giving in Social Groups.
With Sarah Smith.
Journal of Public Economics, 2016.
The Price Elasticity of Charitable Giving: Does the Form of Tax Relief Matter?
With Sarah Smith.
International Tax and Public Finance, 2015.
Private Provision of Public Goods and Information Diffusion in Social Groups.International Economic Review, 2014.
Impure Prosocial Motivation in Charity Provision: Warm Glow Charities and Implications for Public Funding.Journal of Public Economics, 2014.
A Theory of Distributional Conflict, Voluntarism and Segregation.
With Ignatius Horstmann.
The Economic Journal, 2008.
Can Private Giving Promote Economic Segregation?
With Ignatius Horstmann and Al Slivinski.
Journal of Public Economics, 2007.
The Political Economy of Policy Centralisation: Direct Versus Representative Democracy.
With Michela Redoano.
Journal of Public Economics, 2004.
Tiebout with Politics: Capital Tax Competition and Constitutional Choices.
With Carlo Perroni.
Review of Economic Studies, 2001.
Why Are Tax Expenditures for Giving Embodied in Fiscal Constitutions?Journal of Public Economics, 2000.
Implementing Tax Coordination.
With Amrita Dhillon and Carlo Perroni.
Journal of Public Economics, 1999.
A fuller publication list is available in my CV.
Contact
School of Economics
University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham NG7 2RD
United Kingdom