2013_09_27 Claus Offe

My Notes

Where I am coming from:

1. Tax is inefficient, inequitable and unsustainable vs PCT, LVT and NIT.
2. An efficient, equitable and sustainable welfare state depends on an intact mixed economy.
3. Tax is an important institution for a mixed economy.

So, why don't we have it?

I need, in Offe's word, a theory of social conflict.

Could be many things:

• International cooperation/coordination problem of (any) progressive taxation
• Path dependency
• Domestic political dysfunctions (veto playing)
• Implementation problems
• or, maybe, because people don't want it

Or maybe, this wanting it, depends on the kind of democratic forum

• pluralist special interest vs. Rawlsian common good
• pre-social preferences vs. intersubjective understanding (biases, malaggregations)

Proposal

• Tax is a good case, because hardly is there such a great mismatch between understanding and relevance.
• Conversely, if ever there was a place to hide the social reproduction of inequality, it would be tax.
• There seem to be many (systematic) misunderstandings in tax (McCaffery, Baron)

Research questions

How would think differently about tax, if they participated in a democratic forum that was closer to the regulative ideal of communicative action than the status quo?

Challenges

• "Learning component" is controversial, hard to do right
• Data will have limited external validity (small, self-selected sample)
• Economic neutrality will be hard to achieve.
• I have an expansive understanding of deliberation.

Existing research

• Empirical deliberation: lacks abstract, large-scale issues.
• Empirical deliberation: Lacks well-defined policy-choices at the macro level.
• Heuristics/Biases research program lacks social conditions of these misunderstandings.
• Heuristics/Biases always finds the subjects at fault.
• Heuristics/Biases does not show how it may filter up to policy choice, external validity is questionable.

Questions

• Can I do this with only the theory part? (I'd like to)
• Can I co-author, co-teach sth. with Claus Offe?
• Whom should I talk to?

Suggestions Offe

• Michael Krettke, Geschichte des Finanzwesens, Nachfolger von B. Jessop in Lancaster
• Mark Warren (Offe)
• Schülerinnen von John Dryzek, Mansbridge
• Dryzek exposé schicken
• Blosfeld für Sample ansprechen
• Karl Hinrichs
• Thompson (via Offe), Gutman