James Alm, Regents Professor
Regents Professor of Economics
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison
Phone: 404-413-0093
E-mail: jalm@gsu.edu
Vita (pdf)
Specialties:
Public Economics
Tax Policy
State and Local Government Finance
Public Finance in Developing Countries
Alm's most recent research areas include tax compliance and tax evasion, the marriage tax, tax and expenditure limitations, tax amnesties, taxpayer responses to tax reforms, enterprise zones, the determinants of state economic growth, and corruption. He also has worked extensively on fiscal and decentralization reforms in numerous countries, including Bangladesh, Jamaica, Grenada, Indonesia, Turkey, Hungary, China, Egypt, the Philippines, Russia, Uganda, Nigeria, India, Colombia, Nepal, Ukraine, Pakistan, and South Africa. Alm's international projects have been funded by the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations Development Program, and the International Monetary Fund.
Alm is Editor of Public Finance Review and Associate Editor of Review of Economics of the Household. He also has served on the editorial board of Economic Inquiry, Public Finance Review and the National Tax Journal and on the Executive Committee of the National Tax Association. His work has been published in The American Economic Review, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Economica, Economic Inquiry, Southern Economic Journal, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Human Resources, National Tax Journal, Public Finance Review, International Tax and Public Finance, Public Choice, Public Finance/Finances Publiques, and Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, among others. His work has also been noted in articles in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Forbes, and Business Week. Alm has served as Chair of the Department of Economics in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and as Dean of the School.
Recent working papers:
Do Individuals Comply on Income Not Reported by Their Employer? James Alm, John Deskins, and Michael McKee, August 2007
Administrative Options to Close the Tax Gap: Insights from Research, James Alm, July 2007
Short- and Medium-term Tax Policy Options for the 2007-2008 Pakistan Budget, James Alm and Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, July 2007
Experimental Tests of Ricardian Equivalence with Distortionary versus Nondistortionary Taxes, Artidiatun Adji, James Alm, and Paul J. Ferraro, June 2007
How Should Individuals Be Taxed? Combining “Simplified,” Income, and Payroll Taxes in Ukraine, James Alm, Pablo Saavedra, and Edward Sennoga, March 8, 2007
Tax Morale and Tax Evasion in Latin America, James Alm and Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, November 2006
Estimating the Informal Supplier Tax Gap, James Alm and Brian Erard, June 2005
Perfect Competition, Spatial Competition, and Tax Incidence in the Retail Gasoline Market, James Alm, and Edward Sennoga, and Mark Skidmore, May 2005
Third-Party Income Reporting and Income Tax Compliance, James Alm, John Deskins, and Michael McKee, May 2005
Audit Information Dissemination, Taxpayer Communication, and Compliance Behavior, James Alm, Betty R. Jackson, and Michael McKee, May 2005
Audit Certainty and Taxpayer Compliance, James Alm and Michael McKee, May 2005
The Effects of Communication Among Taxpayers on Compliance, James Alm, Betty R. Jackson and Michael McKee, September 2004
Russian Attitudes Toward Paying Taxes - Before, During, and After the Transition, James Alm, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez and Benno Torgler, September 2004
Do Motor Fuel Sales-below-cost Laws Lower Prices?, James Alm, Mark Skidmore and James Peltier, September 2004
Payroll Taxes and Contributions in Jamaica, James Alm and Sally Wallace, August 2004
The Individual Income Tax in Jamaica, James Alm and Sally Wallace, August 2004
Can Developing Countries Impose an Individual Income Tax?, James Alm and Sally Wallace, August 2004
Taxing the "Family" in the Individual Income Tax, James Alm and Mikhail I. Melnik, July 2004
How Fair? Federal Income Taxation and the Distribution of Income, 1978-1998, James Alm, Fitzroy Lee and Sally Wallace, July 2004
Sales Taxes and the Decision to Purchase Online, James Alm and Mikhail I. Melnik, June 2004
Culture Differences and Tax Morale in the United States and Europe, James Alm and Benno Torgler, May 2004
Payroll Taxes in Colombia, James Alm and Hugo Lopez-Castano, April 2004
"Sizing" the Problem of the Hard-to-tax, James Alm and Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, February 2004
Audit Selection and Firm Compliance with a Broad-based Sales Tax, James Alm, Calvin Blackwell and Michael McKee, January 2004
Seller Reputation, Information Signals, and Prices of Heterogeneous Goods on eBay, James Alm and Mikhail I. Melnik, January 2004
The Clean Air Act Amendments and Firm Investment in Pollution Abatement Equipment, James Alm and Amanda I. Lee, November 2003
Tax Compliance as a Coordination Game, James Alm and Michael McKee, October 2003
Shacking Up or Shelling Out: Income Taxes, Marriage, and Cohabitation, James Alm and Leslie A. Whittington, September 2003
Decentralization and Local Government Borrowing in Indonesia, James Alm and Sri Mulyani Indrawati, June 2003
Corruption, Optimal Taxation, and Growth, James Alm and Raul A. Barreto, May 2003
On the Use of Budget Norms as a Tool for Fiscal Management, James Alm and Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, September 2002
Globalization and State/Local Government Finances, James Alm, Jill Ann Holman and Rebecca M. Neumann, July 2002
Does a Seller's eCommerce Reputation Matter? Evidence from eBay Auctions, James Alm and Mikhail I. Melnik, September 2002
Is There a "Singles Tax"? The Relative Tax Treatment of Single Households, James Alm, Leslie A. Whittington and Jason Fletcher, October 2001
Can Indonesia Decentralize Successfully? Plans, Problems, and Prospects, James Alm, Robert Aten and Roy Bahl, February 2001
Wedding Bell Blues: The Income Tax Consequences of Legalizing Same Sex Marriage, James Alm, M.V. Lee Badgett and Leslie A. Whittington, January 2000
