Global Tax Seminar Series – “The Making of International Tax Governance”

The mission of the Global Tax Seminar Series (GTSS) is to provide a regular and convivial forum for the presentation and discussion of new academic tax law, policy, and theory research by colleagues from all continents. The seminars are run in person and online as a Zoom webinar, with 25—to 30-minute paper presentations followed by comments from a distinguished panel of discussants and then ample time for questions and discussion.

On Wednesday 7 October 2026, Eduardo Baistrocchi (LSE) will present on the following topic: “The Making of International Tax Governance”.

Book abstract: Drawing on a comprehensive database, The Making of International Tax Governance combines qualitative and quantitative analysis. It aims to shed new light on 105 years of the shaping of the international tax regime (ITR), from 1920 to 2025, and to distill lessons for the future of international tax governance. The book addresses two questions:

(i) Why is international tax governance not inclusive?

(ii) Can it be reimagined to meet the UN’s 2023 tests for an inclusive and effective framework convention on international tax cooperation while remaining adaptable to global shocks?

To address the first positive question, the book advances a theory of international tax governance. The theory maintains that, at several stages, the ITR appears to have been shaped by strategic interactions among three clusters of actors with power: (i) international investors, (ii) developed endpoint jurisdictions, and (iii) global tax hubs. Patterns of inter-cluster and intra-cluster interaction—encompassing historical episodes resembling coordination, collusion, and defection—are consistent with the claim that the three clusters have, collectively or unilaterally, shaped the emergence and evolution of the ITR in ways that appear to maximize their capture of international tax rents, often at other stakeholders’ expense. Developing countries are a case in point.

On the second normative question, the book advances a proposal for a two-tier framework convention on international tax cooperation. The proposal aims to improve international tax governance in line with the lessons of the ITR’s history and the UN’s 2023 mandate. It also aims to strengthen the governance’s resilience to shocks, including alternating phases of globalization and deglobalization, amid an emerging AI-driven third industrial revolution and shifting global power balances, thereby helping to escape the Thucydides Trap.

Overall, The Making of International Tax Governance seeks to provide a forward-looking roadmap for adapting international tax governance to twenty-first-century challenges. It does so by building on the lessons of over a century of institutional experience, while aligning with the UN’s 2023 mandate.

Discussants: Richard Collier (University of Oxford), Tsilly Dagan (University of Oxford), Sol Picciotto (Lancaster University, emeritus), Martin Hearson (Institute of Development Studies and ICTD, TBC).

To sign up for the mailing list, please visit: https://www.lse.ac.uk/law/secure/taxation-signup.

For further information, please contact Eduardo Baistrocchi, Associate Professor of Law, at e.a.baistrocchi@lse.ac.uk.

This seminar is open to the public and will operate on a first-come, first-served basis.

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