Shafik HebousPublic Finance, Economic Policy, and Taxation
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About Shafik Hebous

Deputy Division Chief, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund. Formerly assistant professor at Goethe University Frankfurt and adjunct professor at the University of Oslo.

I am Deputy Division Chief in the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department, leading capacity development and advising governments on tax policy. My research and policy work reinforce each other, with practical challenges motivating new research and research insights guiding policy advice.

My work centers on public finance, international taxation, and macroeconomics, especially the taxation of multinational companies and the impact of digitalization, digital money, and AI on tax systems. I also study business taxation, VAT, fiscal policy, and the links between taxation, investment, productivity, and growth.

I have previously served as adjunct professor at the OFS at the University of Oslo and as assistant professor in the economics department at Goethe University Frankfurt. I have also been a visiting researcher at various institutions, including the economics department at the University of California, Berkeley, the Centre for Business Taxation at the University of Oxford, the OFS at the University of Oslo, and the Research Centre of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

I obtained my Ph.D. in economics (summa cum laude) from Goethe University Frankfurt in November 2010 and graduated from the Advanced Studies Programme in international economic policy at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in 2006.

Full CV (PDF) Updated April 2026

Career

  • 08.2015 – PresentDeputy Division Chief
    International Monetary Fund, Fiscal Affairs Department
  • 11.2012 – 07.2015Assistant Professor
    Faculty of Economics, Goethe University Frankfurt
  • 11.2010 – 10.2012Post-Doctoral Position
    Faculty of Economics, Goethe University Frankfurt
  • 09.2008 – 02.2009Intern
    Deutsche Bundesbank
  • 06.2008 – 11.2010Research Assistant, Chair of Public Finance
    Faculty of Economics, Goethe University Frankfurt
  • 08.2005 – 07.2006Research Assistant
    Kiel Institute for the World Economy

Education

  • November 2010Ph.D. in Economics (summa cum laude)
    Goethe University Frankfurt
  • 2005–2006Advanced Studies in International Economic Policy Research
    Kiel Institute for the World Economy
  • 2005M.Sc. in Economics
    University of Magdeburg

Visiting positions

  • 2018Adjunct Professor, Economics Department
    University of Oslo – OFS
  • 08.2011 – 10.2011Visiting Scholar
    Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
  • 03.2011Visiting Scholar
    Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Bergen
  • 08.2009 – 09.2009Visiting Scholar
    Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation, University of Oxford
  • 03.2009 – 2015Visiting Researcher
    Deutsche Bundesbank

Selected publications

Full list →

Professional service

  • Board Member, International Institute of Public Finance (IIPF)
  • Chair, Scientific Committee for the 2025 International Institute of Public Finance (IIPF) Annual Congress, Nairobi (with François Gerard)
  • Member of the Scientific Committee for the 2017 National Tax Association Annual Conference, Philadelphia
  • Member of the Scientific Committee for the 2015 IIPF Annual Congress, University College Dublin
  • Researcher, Research Center SAFE (Frankfurt), Project: "New Fiscal Institutions for Europe?"
  • Guest Editor, International Tax and Public Finance, Special Issue (2026)
  • Guest Editor, CESifo Economic Studies, Special Issue (2016)

Conferences organised

  • 2025Digital Money and Taxation
    Frankfurt, Germany · with Alfons Weichenrieder, SAFE and Goethe University Frankfurt
  • 2023Behavioral Interventions in Public Finance
    Bratislava, Slovakia · with Richard Priesol, Ministry of Finance, Slovakia
  • 2015CESifo Workshop: Rethinking the Need for a Fiscal Union in the Eurozone
    Venice, Italy · with Roel Beetsma, University of Amsterdam

Awards

  • November 2013Sturm & Drang Preis 2013 für die beste Nachwuchspublikation
    Goethe University
  • November 2011IHK-Dissertationspreis, Frankfurt 2011
  • March and Sep. 2011Refund of travelling expenses of research visits
    Vereinigung von Freunden und Förderern
  • 2005–2006ASP Scholarship
    Kiel Institute for the World Economy

Invited presentations

Selected
2026 3 events
  • WEFIDEV-RFS-CEPR Conference at Kellogg School, Northwestern University
  • Schar School, George Mason University
  • Special Lecture: Conference on Public Finance and Tax Reforms in India, Kolkata
2025 5 events
  • Max Planck conference 'Building Blocks of an International Tax Order', Munich
  • European Commission, Brussels
  • IIPF Congress, Nairobi (Scientific Chair)
  • Oxford Centre for Business Taxation academic symposium
  • Max Planck conference 'The division of corporate revenue in a globalized world', Berlin
2024 3 events
  • UN ECOSOC Meeting, NY
  • International Tax Policy Forum (ITPF), Washington DC
  • T20/G20 (IPEA)
2023 6 events
  • WIDER-UNU conference: revving up revenue for development, Oslo
  • Governance and its funding in the 21st century, Berlin
  • IPF Annual Conference, Utah State University
  • Seminar on a Global Minimum Tax for Multinational Companies in the EU, Stockholm
  • UN Workshop on Windfall Taxes
  • UCLA/NYU/Berkeley Tax Policy Conference, LA
2022 2 events
  • Global Tax Symposium
  • Skatteforum
2021 3 events
  • National Tax Association Annual Conference
  • IIPF Annual Conference
  • IEB: Workshop on Economics of Taxation
2020 1 event
  • National Tax Association Annual Conference
2019 4 events
  • Analytical Corner, IMF, Annual Meetings, Washington DC (video: https://www.imf.org/external/mmedia/view.aspx?vid=6095092167001)
  • House of Finance, Goethe University Frankfurt
  • CESifo, Munich
  • American Economic Association, Atlanta
2017 4 events
  • National Tax Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia
  • Skatteforum (Annual Meeting of Norwegian Tax Economists)
  • University of Oslo
  • Society of Government Economists, Washington DC
2016 4 events
  • National Tax Association Annual Meeting, Baltimore (organised session)
  • IMF
  • IIPF, Lake Tahoe
  • American Economic Association, San Francisco
2015 6 events
  • IIPF, Dublin (organised session)
  • International Monetary Fund, Washington DC
  • ZEW Mannheim, Public Economics Conference
  • CESifo Area Conference on Public Economics, Munich
  • OFS / University of Oslo
  • Technical University Dortmund
2014 5 events
  • European Central Bank, Frankfurt
  • German Economic Association Annual Conference, Hamburg
  • 70th Annual Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance, Lugano
  • Conference on "Fiscal Policy and Macroeconomic Performance", Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt
  • SAFE Research Conference: Austerity and Growth, Frankfurt
2013 4 events
  • 69th Annual Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance, Taormina/Sicily
  • ZEW Mannheim, Current Fiscal Policy Challenges in Europe
  • Eastern Economic Association Annual Conference, New York
  • CESifo Area Conference on Macro, Money and International Finance, Munich
2012 4 events
  • ICTD Annual Meeting, Cape Town
  • IIPF, Dresden
  • International Tax and Development Meeting, IDS, Brighton
  • European Tax Forum, Brussels
2011 6 events
  • WU Vienna
  • 67th Annual Congress of the IIPF, Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • Summer Symposium, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation, Oxford
  • 3rd Emerging Markets Group Conference, Cass Business School, London
  • "Post-Crisis Fiscal Consolidation Strategies for Europe", University of Freiburg
  • Seminar, NHH, Bergen
2010 5 events
  • 66th Annual Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance, Uppsala
  • CESifo Venice Summer Workshop on Taxation in Developing Countries, Venice
  • 9th Post Graduate Conference, GEP Centre at the University of Nottingham
  • Oxford Centre for Business Taxation, University of Oxford
  • Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt
2009 3 events
  • Oxford Centre for Business Taxation, University of Oxford
  • Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt
  • Faculty of Economics, Goethe University Frankfurt

Refereeing

Referee for 28 academic journals, including:

  • American Economic Review
  • American Economic Review: Insights
  • American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
  • Canadian Journal of Economics
  • CESifo Economic Studies
  • Economic Journal
  • Economica
  • Economics of Transition
  • Empirical Economics
  • Environmental and Resource Economics
  • European Accounting Review
  • European Economic Review
  • FinanzArchiv
  • IMF Economic Review
  • International Review of Economics and Finance
  • International Tax and Public Finance
  • Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
  • Journal of Economic Surveys
  • Journal of the European Economic Association
  • Journal of Public Economics
  • Journal of Macroeconomics
  • Journal of Monetary Economics
  • Journal of Money, Credit and Banking
  • National Tax Journal
  • Nature Communications
  • Public Finance Review
  • Review of Economics and Statistics
  • World Economy

Institutions: The Institute of Development Studies / University of Sussex; Austrian Academy of Sciences.