Books by Michael Keen
Michael Keen is deputy director of the Fiscal Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund. He has been awarded the National Tax Association’s Daniel M. Holland Medal for distinguished lifetime contributions to the study and practice of public finance, and is a past president of the International Institute of Public Finance.
Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue: Tax Follies and Wisdom through the Ages
by Joel Slemrod & Michael Keen
In Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue, Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod achieve the impossible: a book about taxes that’s laugh-out-loud funny. The authors are serious economists (one at the University of Michigan, one at the IMF) and combine a delight in fiscal history with an ease of summarizing what you need to know about, say, the Laffer curve (the ideological underpinning for Reagan-era tax cuts) or what the impact of a wealth or carbon tax today might be. There's illustrations and quotations about tax from everyone from Joseph Schumpeter to PG Wodehouse (who apparently had a lot of tax troubles).
As a single prism to see world history through, taxes turn out to be a remarkably convincing focus, playing a role in everything from the emergence of writing in ancient Babylon to the French Revolution and Britain’s rise to global dominance in the 18th century. Understanding taxes is also critical today, and you'll finish the book understanding both what VAT is (as opposed to sales tax) and why global corporates are able to avoid taxes perfectly legally.
Interviews with Michael Keen
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1
Showdown at Gucci Gulch: Lawmakers, Lobbyists, and the Unlikely Triumph of Tax Reform
by Alan Murray & Jeffrey Birnbaum -
2
The Sinews of Power: War, Money and the English State, 1688–1783
by John Brewer -
3
Taxing the Rich: A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe
by David Stasavage & Kenneth Scheve -
4
The Income Tax: A Study of the History, Theory, and Practice of Income Taxation at Home and Abroad
by Edwin Seligman -
5
Dimensions of Tax Design: The Mirrlees Review
by Institute for Fiscal Studies
The Best Books on Taxes and Taxation, recommended by Joel Slemrod & Michael Keen
The Best Books on Taxes and Taxation, recommended by Joel Slemrod & Michael Keen
Many of us try to avoid thinking about taxes unless we have to, but the truth is taxation has had a profound effect on the course of history and will play a key in the future society we create, too. Here, Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod, both public finance economists and authors of Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue: Tax Follies and Wisdom Through the Ages, recommend books about taxes that are not only informative but also good reads.
