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 the Informal Sector Is Not a Tax Goldmine

October 2025
Max Gallien

Partner Publication

Tax, informality and gender equity in lower-income countries

October 2025
Max Gallien, Vanessa van den Boogaard

Research in Brief

The Politics of Passage: Roadblocks, Taxation, and Control in Conflict

August 2025
Peer Schouten, Max Gallien, Shalaka Thakur, Vanessa van den Boogaard, Florian Weigand, Tracy Beyuo

Policy Brief

The Tax Era of Development: Taxing Smarter for Equity, Growth, and Resilience

June 2025
Max Gallien, Martin Hearson, Giulia Mascagni, Giovanni Occhiali, Daisy Ogembo, Vanessa van den Boogaard

Policy Brief

Public Support for Wealth and Progressive Taxes in Pakistan

June 2025
Max Gallien, Umair Javed, Vanessa van den Boogaard

Factsheet

Zakat Payments in Pakistan Exceed State Social Protection

March 2025
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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Can the UK’s new international development strategy support fairer and more effective taxation systems?
28 November 2023

Can the UK’s new international development strategy support fairer and more effective taxation systems?

Last week, the UK government published a new White Paper on International Development which sets out its approach to international…

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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

•

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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23 October 2026

Max Gallien, Vanessa van den Boogaard pen letter to the editor at FT

Research Director Max Gallien and Senior Research Fellow Vanessa van den Boogaard, co-leads of ICTD’s Informality and Tax programme, wrote…

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Max Gallien, Vanessa van den Boogaard, and external author Umair Javed pen op-ed on support for wealth taxes in Pakistan
23 June 2025

Max Gallien, Vanessa van den Boogaard, and external author Umair Javed pen op-ed on support for wealth taxes in Pakistan

ICTD Research Fellows Max Gallien and Vanessa van den Boogaard, co-leads of the Centre’s Informality and Taxation programme, along with…
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Max Gallien, Vanessa van den Boogaard, and Umair Javed pen op-ed on Zakat work
29 April 2025

Max Gallien, Vanessa van den Boogaard, and Umair Javed pen op-ed on Zakat work

ICTD Research Fellows Max Gallien and Vanessa van den Boogaard along with Umair Javed, pen an op-ed on the Dawn…
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Max Gallien, Martin Hearson, and Mary Abounabhan reflect on Ghana's scrapped e-levy on The Conversation Africa
31 March 2025

Max Gallien, Martin Hearson, and Mary Abounabhan reflect on Ghana’s scrapped e-levy on The Conversation Africa

ICTD researchers Max Gallien, Martin Hearson, and Mary Abounabhan wrote a piece for The Conversation Africa on the lessons learned…

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ICTD study on zakat garners media attention as Ramadan concludes
31 March 2025

ICTD study on zakat garners media attention as Ramadan concludes

ICTD’s work on zakat, led by Informality and Tax co-leads Max Gallien and Vanessa van den Boogaard, along with Umair…

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VoxDev blog cites ICTD research
17 February 2025

VoxDev blog cites ICTD research

A blog on improving tax payments in Liberia by World Bank economist Oyebola Okunogbe on VoxDev references two ICTD-produced research….
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