Vanessa van den Boogaard
Research Fellow, International Centre for Tax and Development
at the University of Toronto and Institute of Development Studies
Journal articles
Vanessa van den Boogaard and Ane Karoline Bak Foged (Forthcoming 2023) A tax by any other name? Conceptions and perceptions of taxation across languages, Journal of Modern African Studies.
Max Gallien and Vanessa van den Boogaard (2023) Formalisation and its discontents: Conceptual fallacies and ways forward, Development and Change.
Working paper version (open access)
Research summaries: Twitter thread, Another Twitter thread,
Vanessa van den Boogaard and Rachel Beach (2023) Tax and governance in rural areas: The implications of inefficient tax collection, Journal of International Development (open access).
Working paper version (open access)
Research summaries: Twitter thread
Vanessa van den Boogaard and Fabrizio Santoro (2023) Co-financing community-driven development through informal taxation: Evidence from south-central Somalia, Governance 36, 2: 499-531.
Working paper version (open access)
Research summaries: Research in brief/ Twitter thread
Blogs: New evidence from Somalia points to effective ways to deliver public services in conflict-affected and fragile contexts (Africa Portal); Citizens of fragile states can fund public services directly — it's working in Somalia (The Conversation/ allAfrica)
Nana Akua Anyidoho, Max Gallien, Mike Rogan and Vanessa van den Boogaard (2023) Mobile money taxation and informal workers: Evidence from Ghana's E-levy, Development Policy Review.
Working paper version (open access)
Research summaries: Twitter thread
Blogs: New data on the e-levy in Ghana: Unpopular tax on mobile money transfers is hitting the poor hard (The Conversation/ Citi NewsRoom/ Graphic Online/ Modern Ghana/ allAfrica)
Vanessa van den Boogaard and Fabrizio Santoro (2022) Financing governance beyond the state: Informal revenue generation in south-central Somalia, African Affairs 121, 485: 569-594.
Working paper version (open access), Online appendix
Research summaries: Twitter thread
Tanya Bandula-Irwin, Max Gallien, Ashley Jackson, Vanessa van den Boogaard and Florian Weigand (2022) Beyond greed: Why armed groups tax, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism.
Working paper version (open access)
Blogs: Why do armed groups tax? It's not just about the money/ Pourquoi les groupes armés imposent-ils des taxes? Leurs motifs ne sont pas seulement pécuniers (ICTD)
Vanessa van den Boogaard, Wilson Prichard, Rachel Beach and Fariya Mohiuddin (2022) Enabling tax bargaining: Supporting more meaningful tax transparency and taxpayer engagement in Ghana and Sierra Leone, Development Policy Review 40,1: e12563.
Working paper version (open access)
Research summaries: Research in Brief/ Résumé de Recherche/ Shɔt TɔK Bɔt Di Risach
Vanessa van den Boogaard, Wilson Prichard and Samuel Jibao (2021) Norms, networks, power and control: The multiple facets of informal cross-border trade practices in Sierra Leone, Journal of Borderlands Studies 36, 1: 77-97.
Working paper version (open access)
Research summaries: Research in Brief/ Résumé de Recherche/ Twitter thread
Vanessa van den Boogaard, Wilson Prichard and Samuel Jibao (2019) Informal taxation in Sierra Leone: Magnitudes, perceptions and implications, African Affairs 118, 471: 259-284.
Working paper version (open access)
Research summaries: Research in Brief/ Résumé de Recherche/ Shɔt TɔK Bɔt Di Risach
Vanessa van den Boogaard, Wilson Prichard, Matthew Sterling Benson and Nikola Milicic (2018) Tax revenue mobilization in conflict-affected developing countries, Journal of International Development 30, 2: 345-64.
Working paper version (open access)
Vanessa van den Boogaard (2018) Gender and the formal and informal systems of local public finance in Sierra Leone / Genre et systèmes formels et informels de finances publiques locales en Sierra Leone, Politique Africaine 3, 151: 61-86.
Working paper version (open access)
Research summaries: Research in Brief/ Résumé de Recherche/ Shɔt TɔK Bɔt Di Risach
Wilson Prichard and Vanessa van den Boogaard (2017) Norms, power and the socially embedded realities of market taxation in northern Ghana, African Studies Review 60, 1: 171-194.
Working paper version (open access)
Vanessa van den Boogaard (2017) Modern post-colonial approaches to citizenship: Kwame Nkrumah’s political thought on Pan-Africanism, Citizenship Studies 21, 1: 44-67.
Peer-reviewed working papers
Max Gallien, Umair Javed and Vanessa van den Boogaard (2023) Zakat, non-state welfare provision and redistribution in times of crisis: Evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic, ICTD Working Paper 163. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.
Media: Charity and the state (Dawn)
Max Gallien, Giovanni Occhiali and Vanessa van den Boogaard (2023) Catch them if you can: The politics and practice of a taxpayer registration exercise, ICTD Working aper 160. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.
Nana Akua Anyidoho, Max Gallien, Ghida Ismail, Florian Juergens-Grant, Mike Rogan and Vanessa van den Boogaard (2022) Tight tax net, loose safety net: Taxation and social protection in Accra's informal sector, WIEGO Working Paper 45. Manchester, UK: WIEGO.
Media: WIEGO Informal Economy podcast, Challenging Global Social Protection Orthodoxies (Episode 32)
Susana Araujo, Wajahat Afzal, Deepta Chopra, Max Gallien, Umair Javed, Salman Khan, Shandana Khan Mohmand, Maha Noor Qureshi, Shafaq Sohail and Vanessa van den Boogaard (2022) The distances that the Covid-19 pandemic magnified: Research on informality and the state, IDS Bulletin 53, 3: 111-128.
Max Gallien and Vanessa van den Boogaard (2021) Informality and the state: The politics of connection and disconnection during a global pandemic, IDS Working Paper 558. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.
Shanadana Khan Mohmand, Colin Anderson, Max Gallien, Tom Harrison, Anuradha Joshi, Miguel Loureiro, Giulia Mascagni, Giovanni Occhiali and Vanessa van den Boogaard (2021) Governance for building back better, IDS Bulletin 52,1: 163-180.
Book chapters
Vanessa van den Boogaard (2019) Gender and positionality: Opportunities, challenges, and ethical dilemmas in Ghana and Sierra Leone, in Max Kelly and Ruth Jackson (Eds) Women Researching in Africa: The Impact of Gender (Palgrave MacMillan).
Book reviews
Vanessa van den Boogaard (2023) Daniel E. Agbiboa,
They Eat Our Sweat: Transport Labor, Corruption, and Everyday Survival in Urban Nigeria, Sociology.
Vanessa van den Boogaard (2021) Alusine Jalloh, Muslim Fula business elites and politics in Sierra Leone, Canadian Journal of African Studies 55,1: 232-233.
Vanessa van den Boogaard (2016) James Ferguson, Give a man a fish: Reflections on the new politics of distribution, African Studies Quarterly 16, 2: 105-107.
Vanessa van den Boogaard (2015) Timothy Raeymaekers, Violent capitalism and hybrid identity in the eastern Congo: Power to the margins, African Studies Quarterly 16, 1: 129-131.
Policy reports
Nyirakamana, C., V. van den Boogaard, and W. Ahmed (2021) Land and property taxation to finance urban development in Somaliland, Sahamiye Foundation Report. Hargeisa, Somaliland: Sahamiye Foundation.
Gallien, M., M. Moore, and V. van den Boogaard (2021) Taxing the informal economy is not a silver bullet for financing development — or the Covid-19 recovery, ICTD Policy Brief 24. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.
Joshi, A., J. Kangave, and V. van den Boogaard (2020) Gender and tax policies in the Global South, K4D Knowledge for Development Helpdesk Report 814. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.
Mohamand, S.K., C. Anderson, M. Gallien, T. Harrison, A. Joshi, M. Loureiro, G. Mascagni, G. Occhiali, and V. van den Boogaard (2020) Governance and building back better, IDS Positioning Paper. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.
van den Boogaard, V. (2020) Equity implications of the co-provision of public education in Sierra Leone/ La cofinanciación de la educación pública: Implicancias para la equidad en Sierra Leona, NORRAG Special Issue No. 5 on Domestic Financing: Tax and Education, Network for International Policies and Cooperation in Education and Training.
van den Boogaard, V. and W. Prichard (2016) What have we learned about informal taxation in sub-Saharan Africa?, International Centre for Tax and Development Summary Brief 2. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.