Revisiting the past, looking to the future – Moving beyond the fiscal contract?

The TaxCapDev-network is hosting its final conference in Oslo, Norway, October 2025.

For over a decade, the TaxCapDev network has brought together scholars and practitioners to examine how taxation shapes governance, state-building, and development. This final conference (21–23 October 2025) offers both a moment of reflection and an opportunity to ask where research and policy should go next.

A central theme in tax and development research has been the idea of a ‘fiscal contract’: that taxation fosters reciprocal ties between state and society, strengthening accountability and legitimacy. This perspective has been widely influential, but also increasingly questioned. Has the fiscal contract’s explanatory power been overstated? What aspects of citizen–state relations does it miss, particularly in fragile settings? And if new approaches are needed, what frameworks might better capture the links between taxation, state-building and development?

See full programme and register at taxcapdev.no.

Also check out other Business events in Oslo, Conferences in Oslo.