Max Gallien

Max Gallien

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This profile is also available in French

Biography

Dr Max Gallien is Research Director of ICTD. His research specialises in the politics of informal and illegal economies, the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa and development politics. He completed his PhD at the London School of Economics. Max co-leads the informality and taxation programme with Vanessa, as well as the ICTD’s capacity building programme.

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Policy Brief

Why Mass Tax Registration Campaigns Do Not Work

July 2023
Max Gallien, Giulia Mascagni, Mick Moore, Giovanni Occhiali, Wilson Prichard, Fabrizio Santoro, Celeste Scarpini, Vanessa van den Boogaard

Working Paper

Between God, the People, and the State: Citizen Conceptions of Zakat

June 2023
Max Gallien, Umair Javed, Vanessa van den Boogaard

Journal Article

An overlooked market: loose cigarettes, informal vendors and their implications for tobacco taxation

May 2023
Max Gallien, Giovanni Occhiali, Hana Ross

Policy Brief

Cannabis Taxation as a Revenue Source for Development: Opportunities and Challenges

April 2023
Max Gallien, Giovanni Occhiali

Journal Article

Formalization and its Discontents: Conceptual Fallacies and Ways Forward

April 2023
Max Gallien, Vanessa van den Boogaard

Working Paper

Zakat, Non-State Welfare Provision and Redistribution in Times of Crisis: Evidence from the Covid-19 Pandemic

April 2023
Max Gallien, Umair Javed, Vanessa van den Boogaard
Pakistan’s support for wealth taxes
24 June 2025

Pakistan’s support for wealth taxes

In a context marked by deepening fiscal constraint, wealth taxes offer a potential solution for Pakistan as they have done…
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Ghana’s e-levy: 3 lessons from the abolished mobile money tax
1 April 2025

Ghana’s e-levy: 3 lessons from the abolished mobile money tax

The e-levy’s intense politicisation and complex design made it an interesting case of a wider trend of mobile money taxes…
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Pakistanis are paying over 1.7 billion GBP in zakat every year—mostly to women
26 March 2025

Pakistanis are paying over 1.7 billion GBP in zakat every year—mostly to women

Every year, hundreds of millions of Muslims across the world pay a proportion – broadly 2,5% – of their wealth…

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Reasons to be Optimistic about Tax and the Informal Sector
12 March 2025

Reasons to be Optimistic about Tax and the Informal Sector

There are many reasons to be anxious about the taxation of informal sectors in lower income countries. Classic policy interventions…

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Effective and Equitable Formalisation within the Financing for Development Agenda
29 January 2025

Effective and Equitable Formalisation within the Financing for Development Agenda

Max Gallien argues for key changes to the draft text of the Financing for Development outcome document, given that dominant…
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Three myths on smuggling and taxes
12 June 2024

Three myths on smuggling and taxes

Few topics attract as many myths and misconceptions as smuggling. As an activity that is more frequently encountered through tabloids…

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Group photo of the 2026 cohort of the ICTD tax course
28 September 2026

Congratulations to the 2026 cohort of ICTD’s tax research course for completing in-person module

Last week, 19 of the participants in ICTD’s Research on Tax and Development course successfully completed the final in-person module…

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ICTD partners with ATI to advance evidence-based approaches to tax and informality
3 September 2026

ICTD partners with ATI to advance evidence-based approaches to tax and informality

The International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) and the Addis Tax Initiative (ATI) have joined forces to advance evidence-based…
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ICTD suspends flagship course on Research on Tax and Development
17 August 2026

ICTD suspends flagship course on Research on Tax and Development

ICTD will not be running its flagship Research on Tax and Development course, due to start in autumn 2026. The…
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ICTD secures $1m from Founders Pledge to support collaborative research to strengthen tax administration
6 August 2026

ICTD secures $1m from Founders Pledge to support collaborative research to strengthen tax administration

The International Centre for Tax and Development has secured US$1 million from Founders Pledge to fund a new three-year programme…
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From Afghanistan to Venezuela, new research shows how roadblocks shape governance and everyday life in conflict contexts
20 July 2026

From Afghanistan to Venezuela, new research shows how roadblocks shape governance and everyday life in conflict contexts

A new special issue in the leading development studies journal Development and Change puts roadblock politics squarely on the academic…
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ICTD convenes stakeholder workshop on informal taxation in The Gambia
28 April 2026

ICTD convenes stakeholder workshop on informal taxation in The Gambia

Earlier this month, ICTD convened a stakeholder workshop in collaboration with The Gambia’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs to…
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Webinar: Getting Targets Right - How much tax can low-income countries raise?

Webinar: Getting Targets Right – How much tax can low-income countries raise?

Virtual

17 April 2024 – 14:00

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Timezone: UTC

A panel of researchers and practitioners are set to discuss the role that targets can play in building tax capacity. Are optimistic targets helpful or hurtful? And how can we make targets better?
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Max Gallien writes op-ed for Middle East Eye on informal economies in North Africa and COVID-19
16 April 2020

Max Gallien writes op-ed for Middle East Eye on informal economies in North Africa and COVID-19

ICTD Research Fellow Max Gallien wrote an op-ed for Middle East Eye, “How coronavirus threatens North Africa’s informal workers“. Read…

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