Stockholm university
Department of Economics

Laura Montenbruck awarded for study on tax compliance

Laura Montenbruck, Assistant Professor in Economics at Stockholm University, has been awarded the prestigious IIPF Young Economists Award. She is recognized for her study on how citizens’ willingness to pay taxes can be strengthened when they more clearly see the connection between tax revenues and public services.

Laura Montenbruck vid Stockholms universitet.
Laura Montenbruck is an Assistant Professor in Economics at Stockholm University. Photo: Johanna Säll/Stockholm University

In her article ”Fiscal Exchange and Tax Compliance: Strengthening the Social Contract Under Low State Capacity”, Laura Montenbruck presents results from an extensive field experiment in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The study involved 5,494 property owners and tenants and examined how information about public service provision affects the willingness to pay taxes.

The results show that when citizens receive clear information about which services the state provides, the likelihood of paying property taxes increases by an average of 20 percent. The effect is particularly strong among households residing in lower-value properties, where the probability of tax payment rose by 7–16 percentage points when the services were both geographically accessible and addressed the residents’ most urgent needs.

The award is presented annually by the International Institute of Public Finance (IIPF) to young scholars who contribute innovative and policy-relevant research in public economics. This year, the prize was awarded at the institute’s conference in Nairobi, Kenya, held on August 20–22.

Find out more about Laura Montenbruck and the study

Laura Montenbruck

Fiscal Exchange and Tax Compliance

IIPF Young Economists Award

Theme
Economy and Society - Theme page

Last updated: August 25, 2025

Source: Department of Economics

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