I am currently a Senior Researcher Fellow at the University College Dublin, School of Politics and International Relations on the Democracy Challenged Project funded by the ERC. Prior to this, I was a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with the "Théorie Économique, Modélisation et Applications" (THEMA) laboratory at the CY Cergy Paris Université CNRS. Additionally, I am a research fellow at the World Inequality Lab in Paris. I earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the Paris School of Economics...| Democracy Challenged
with Oscar Barrera-Rodriguez In 2025, Forbes counted 3,068 billionaires controlling a combined fortune of $17 trillion — more than the total output of the five largest economies in Wester…| Democracy Challenged
Debates about inequality often revolve around wealth taxes. The argument runs that if the top 1% hoard an ever-larger share of global wealth, then the way to fund a social state is to skim a portion of that fortune back. The Piketty-Zucman turn has put household balance sheets at the centre of distributional politics. But […]| Democracy Challenged
Capitalism in the twenty-first century runs on intangibles: patents, software code, algorithms, brands. Yet what really matters is not the ideas themselves, but how they are recorded in the books. …| Democracy Challenged
The EU–US trade truce leaves generics untouched but puts branded drugs—the core of Ireland’s export engine—at risk, with multinationals ready to shift production and tweak transfer pricing to protect profits. The EU–US trade framework announced on 21 August was pitched as a breakthrough in calming transatlantic tensions. Europe will sweep away tariffs on American industrial […]| Democracy Challenged
The age of neoliberal hands-off economics is giving way to state-led tech geopolitics. For decades, neoliberal orthodoxy insisted that governments should stay out of the business of building indust…| Democracy Challenged
The US corporate landscape has morphed into a winner-takes-all economy, where a handful of multinational firms control the lion’s share of profits and market power. The data is stark. Across all US…| Democracy Challenged
Prof. Dr. Aidan Regan Project Lead About Aidan Aidan is a Professor of Political Economy at University College Dublin (UCD) and the Principal Investigator of a European Research Council (ERC) Conso…| Democracy Challenged
Intellectual property (IP) drives vast profits worldwide—but it also has a hidden financial “double life.” Multi-jurisdictional corporate groups (MJGs), particularly those in big tech a…| Democracy Challenged
In June 2025 the G7 quietly unraveled one of the boldest tax reforms ever attempted. The OECD global minimum tax was designed to curb profit shifting. A single clause now exempts United States mult…| Democracy Challenged
As the world’s richest guests descend on Venice for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s lavish wedding, the scene is already drawing protest. And rightly so. Behind the €40 million party, the security …| Democracy Challenged
Between 2014 and 2024, Tesla generated more than $34 billion in global pre-tax profit. In most jurisdictions, that would translate into a meaningful tax contribution. In Tesla’s case, it produced a domestic tax benefit. Over the decade, the company’s global effective tax rate was –2.3 per cent. In the United States, it plunged to –58 […]| Democracy Challenged
When a U.S. tech giant charges its Irish subsidiary a fee to use pre-existing software, that charge—the buy-in payment—can shape where billions in profits end up, and how much tax is ever paid…| Democracy Challenged
For over a decade, Ireland has enjoyed a corporate tax windfall so vast it has reshaped the country’s fiscal fortunes. Yet beneath the surface lies an accounting sleight-of-hand, now exposed in ful…| Democracy Challenged
