Jukka Pirttilä is a Professor of Public Economics at the University of Helsinki, specifically within the Department of Political and Economic Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences. He also holds affiliations as a researcher at the VATT Institute for Economic Research, a Senior Non-Resident Research Fellow at the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER), and a Fellow at CESifo. He serves as Deputy Director of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research (FIT), reflecting his leadership in national research initiatives. His research interests are centered on public economics , with a strong focus on optimal taxation , empirical analysis of tax systems , and the intersection of taxation and social protection in developing countries . His work spans labor economics, development economics, behavioral public finance, and inequality, often employing microsimulation and empirical econometric methods to evaluate policy impacts. His recent publications (2022–2024) reflect a consistent trend in analyzing tax and benefit systems in both developed and developing contexts. Key themes include migration and tax policy in Finland, tax-benefit microsimulation in the Global South, top income taxation in emerging economies, and youth activation programs. His work frequently involves cross-country collaborations and leverages large-scale administrative and survey data to assess policy effectiveness, equity, and efficiency. Fellow of CESifo Senior Non-Resident Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER Deputy Director of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research (FIT) Pirttilä has supervised and collaborated with numerous researchers, though specific advisees are not listed in the provided text. His work has been supported by major research centers such as VATT, CESifo, and UNU-WIDER. He is actively involved in policy-relevant research, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., South Africa, Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia), assessing tax reforms, social protection programs, and fiscal policy impacts. He maintains a research blog at the University of Helsinki and has a highly active publication record, with over 47 papers announced in NEP (New Economics Papers) across fields like Public Economics, Public Finance, Development, and Labor Economics. His research is widely recognized, placing him among the top 5% of authors in RePEc based on output and co-authorship networks.








