The lecture by Dr. Peter F. Orazem in the Master's program Law for Management for the course Tax Law, hosted on November 13, 2024, by the Dean of the Faculty of Management, Prof. Dr. Tatjana Horvat, deepened understanding of complex issues surrounding taxation, regulation, and their economic impacts. Dr. Orazem, a distinguished professor of economics and a highly regarded researcher in the field, presented a wide range of studies and analyses on human capital and economic institutions, with a particular focus on tax policy and its influence on the economy.
Peter Orazem is University Professor Emeritus of Economics and Director of the Program for the Study of Midwest Markets and Entrepreneurship at Iowa State University. He is a 1977 graduate in economics at the University of Kansas and received his Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1983. In 2018 and again in 2024, he served as a Fulbright Fellow at the Univerza na Primorskem in Slovenia
His research deals with labor markets in the United States and in developing countries with a particular interest in human capital, regional economic development, and entrepreneurship. He is coauthor of chapters in the Handbook of Development Economics and the Handbook of Agricultural Economics. He served as a member of the core team for the World Bank’s 2007 World Development Report and wrote papers for the 2008, 2012 and post2015 editions of the Copenhagen Consensus. His research has appeared in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, The Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Finance, the International Economic Review, and numerous other outlets.
The lecture he delivered to our graduate students primarily covered the research of Nobel laureate T.W. Schultz on the returns to human capital, as well as the recent Nobel Prize awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson for their research on the role of economic institutions—including the rule of law and democracy—in economic growth.
The content of the lecture was organized into three key thematic sections:
The first section provided a broad overview of existing knowledge on how government institutions—such as taxes, regulation, the level of democracy, public service provision, and the rule of law—impact citizen welfare. These same institutions also affect the degree of inequality in welfare within a country.
The second theme examined how changes in economic institutions have influenced income levels and inequality in Slovenia. This part of the lecture addressed topics such as the transition from a planned economy, the expansion of university access, Bologna reforms, employee protections, and minimum wage policies.
The third section focused more narrowly on how taxes impact incentives. This analysis centered on the effects of tax rates on income, sales, and property on the relative value of real estate, capital investments, labor productivity, and per capita income across various U.S. states.
We sincerely thank Dr. Peter F. Orazem for his visit to the Faculty of Management and for sharing his wealth of knowledge and experience with our students. His analyses and expert explanations not only deepened the understanding of theoretical concepts but also provided a broader view of the practical implications of these policies, both in Slovenia and internationally. Through his lecture, students gained valuable insights into the connections between economic policies, human capital, and economic development, which will support them in their further studies and career paths. His visit undoubtedly contributed to the enhanced quality of education at our faculty, for which we are extremely grateful.
