Thor Olav Thoresen

Head of research unit

Thor Olav Thoresen vCard/Business Card

  • Department: Unit for Taxation, Inequality and Consumer Behaviour
  • Position: Head of research unit
  • Phone: 21094819
  • Home number: 22732306
  • E-mail: tot@ssb.no

Research fields

  • Applied tax analysis
  • Analysis of distributional effects
  • Microsimulation models
  • Labor supply
  • Econometric modeling
  • Welfare economics

Interests

  • Applied tax analysis: family policy issues, inheritance tax, gross income elasticity wrt net-of-tax rate changes, behavior of self-employed and wage earners, tax progressivity
  • Analysis of distributional effects: tax progressivity measurement, distributional effects of behavioral changes, measurement of compensating and equivalent variation
  • Microsimulation models: tax-benefit model LOTTE, behavioral modeling
  • Econometric modeling of labor supply and other: discrete choice, random utility models, female labor supply, joint labor supply child care decisions, behavior of self-employed and wage earners

Articles

  • Løyland, K. og T.O. Thoresen (1996): Barnehagetjenester, effektivitets- og fordelingsproblemer. En oversikt over noen metodiske tilnærminger og empiriske resultater (Child Care: Efficiency Effects and Distributional Consequences. Some Approaches and Empirical Findings), Norsk Økonomisk Tidsskrift, 110 (3), 199-227.
  • Thoresen, T.O., I. Aslaksen, C. Koren og K. Lund (1998): Kontantstøtte – noen betraktninger om effektivitet og fordeling (The Home Care Allowance, Efficiency Effects and Distributional Consequences), Sosialøkonomen, nr. 4 1998, 52, 12-21.
  • Thoresen, T.O. og K.O. Aarbu (2000): Skattereformen betraktet som et naturlig eksperiment (The Tax Reform as a Natural Experiment), Sosialøkonomen nr. 1 2000, 54, 32-41.
  • Håkonsen, L., T. Kornstad, K. Løyland og T.O. Thoresen (2000): "Barnehager i et samfunnsøkonomisk perspektiv (The Economics of Child Care Centres)", i Bleken, Heggen Larsen og Røtnes (red.): Barnehagepolitikk - for barn? Ti innspill til debatt, Oslo: Pedagogisk forum, 148-187.
  • Thoresen, T.O. og K.O. Aarbu (2000): Skattereformen betraktet som et naturlig eksperiment (The Tax Reform as a Natural Experiment), Sosialøkonomen nr. 1 2000, 54, 32-41.
  • Thoresen, T.O. (2003): ”Synkende skatteprogressivitet i Norge på 90-tallet. I hvilken grad har skatteendringene i perioden bidratt til dette?” (Reduced Tax Progressivity in Norway in the Nineties. The Effect from Tax Changes), Vedlegg i 6 i NOU 2003:9 Skatteutvalget, Oslo:Akademika, 385-398.
  • Håkonsen, L., T. Kornstad, K. Løyland og T.O. Thoresen (2003): Politikken overfor familier med førskolebarn - noen veivalg (Policy Issues with Respect to Families with Preschool Children – some Directions), Økonomiske analyser 5/2003, s. 3-12
  • Kornstad, T. og T.O. Thoresen (2003): Barnehageforliket - effekter på arbeidstilbud og inntektsfordeling (The Child Care Compromise: Effects on Labor Supply and Distribution of Income), Økonomiske analyser 5/2003, s. 25-31.
  • Thoresen, T.O. (2005): Inntektsskatten for personer 1992-2004: Utviklingen i skatteprogressivitet og politikkens innvirkning (The Personal Income Tax 1992-2004: The Trend in Tax Progressivity and Policy Effects), Økonomiske analyser nr. 5/2005, s. 19-25.
  • Annette Alstadsæter, E. Fjærli og T.O. Thoresen (2006): Om bakgrunnen for og utformingen av skattereformen 2006 (The Norwegian Tax Reform of 2006: Why and Which Changes), Beta: Tidsskrift for bedriftsøkonomi, nr 1, 2006 (www.idunn.no).

Non-published material

  • Behavioural Microsimulation: Labour Supply and Child Care Use Responses in Australia and Norway, with Guyonne Kalb, paper submitted to book: New Frontiers in Microsimulation Modelling, edited by Ashgar Zaidi, Ann Harding, Paul Williamson
  • The relationship between altruism and equal sharing. Evidence from inter vivos transfer behavior, with Elin Halvorsen, Discussion Paper 439, Statistics Norway, submitted to The Journal of Human Resources
  • The short-term ratio of self-financing: more realistic estimates of revenue changes from tax cuts, with Jørgen Aasness and Zhiyang Jia, Discussion Paper 545, Statistics Norway, revise and resubmit, National Tax Journal
  • The case for Labour Supply Incentives: A Comparison of Family Policies in Australia and Norway, Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series, Working Paper no 27/07, The University of Melbourne, revise and resubmit, Review of Economics of the Household
  • Shifts in organizational form under a dual income tax system, with Annette Alstadsæter, Discussion Papers 529, Statistics Norway, submitted to International Tax and Public Finance

Education

  • Cand. Polit. in economics, Department of Economics, University of Oslo, 1990
  • Cand. Mag., economics, political science, University of Oslo, 1987.

Professional Experience

  • Head of research unit, Unit for taxation, inequality and consumer behaviour, Research department, Statistics Norway, 2002-present.
  • Leader of the Government-appointed commission to examine effects of changes in excise taxes (The cross-boarder trade commission, NOU 2003:17), 2003.
  • Member of the Government-appointed commission to suggest an new inheritance tax scheme (NOU 2000:8), 1998-2000.
  • Research fellow, Research department, Statistics Norway, 1997-2004.
  • Senior research fellow, Research department, Statistics Norway, 2005-present
  • Visiting research fellow, University of York (UK), 1994-1995
  • Visiting research fellow, Economics Department and Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne

Activities

  • The choice to be self-employed. An empirical examination of taxes, with Morten Henningsen, John Dagsvik
  • The measurement of tax progressivity, with Peter Lambert (Univ. of Oregon), Runa Nesbakken, Zhiyang Jia
  • Discrete choice models of joint labor supply and child care choices, with Tom Kornstad, John Dagsvik.
  • The case for taxation of intergenerational family transfers. Inter vivos giving behavior in Norway, with Elin Halvorsen.
  • Income mobility, with John Creedy (University of Melbourne) and Elin Halvorsen

Scientific publications

  • Lambert, P.J., and T.O Thoresen (2008): Base independence in the analysis of tax policy effects: with an application to Norway 1992-2004, forthcoming International Tax and Public Finance
  • Aasness, J., J. K. Dagsvik, and T. O. Thoresen (2007): ”The Norwegian Tax-benefit Model System LOTTE”, in A. Gupta og A. Harding (eds): Modelling Our Future: Population Ageing, Health and Aged Care, International Symposia in Economic Theory and Econometrics, North Holland, Amsterdam.
  • Kornstad, T., and T.O. Thoresen (2007): A Discrete Choice Model for Labor Supply and Child Care, Journal of Population Economics 20, 781-803.
  • Kornstad, T. and T.O. Thoresen (2006): Effects of Family Policy Reforms in Norway: Results from a Joint Labour Supply and Childcare Choice Microsimulation Analysis, Fiscal Studies 27, 339-371.
  • Thoresen, T.O. (2004): Reduced Tax Progressivity in Norway in the Nineties: The Effect from Tax Changes, International Tax and Public Finance 11, 487-506.
  • Kornstad, T. and T.O. Thoresen (2004): Means-Testing the Child Benefit, Review of Income and Wealth 50, 29–49.
  • Aarbu, K.O. and T.O. Thoresen (2001): Income Responses to Tax Changes-Evidence from the Norwegian Tax Reform, National Tax Journal 54, 319-335

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