My ERC-funded research revisits fundamental questions in classical political economy: In a world of concentrated wealth and economic inequality, who truly holds political power? Does wealth concentration erode capitalist democracy, creating conditions for oligarchy within democratic systems? If so, how? And what role does legal-technical expertise play in shaping these dynamics?
To answer these questions, we bring together an interdisciplinary team spanning political science, economics, legal studies, and data science. Meet our team!
Mapping the corporate structures
At the core of our research is a deep empirical investigation into global profit-shifting and corporate tax avoidance. We focus on multi-jurisdictional corporate groups (MJGs) in Big Tech and Big Pharma—sectors where intellectual property plays a central role in tax avoidance, profit shifting, and wealth protection.
Using forensic accounting and data-science techniques, we map and visualize “tax-avoiding global wealth chains.” We argue that these wealth chains are a critical driver of market power and wealth concentration, ultimately undermining both capitalism and democracy.
Identifying the legal architects
Beyond mapping profit-shifting structures, we examine the legal architects who design and sustain them. Our focus is on the Big Four accounting firms and transnational tax lawyers, particularly within the OECD and the U.S., where much of the legal expertise around financialization and tax avoidance originates.
We challenge the conventional view that these legal-accounting elites merely respond to existing tax and accounting laws. Instead, we argue that they actively create the rules of the game—coding intellectual property to minimize tax, maximize profit, and shield wealth. This capital-protecting legal infrastructure, we contend, fosters extreme market power and wealth concentration, undermining both capitalism and democracy.
Disrupting the technical consensus
Political science research shows that voters are deeply concerned about the influence of money in politics. Yet, governments rarely take meaningful action. Why? We investigate the media’s role in shaping public discourse on corporate power, wealth inequality, and taxation.
Using cross-national survey experiments, we test the hypothesis that media narratives influence how the public perceives profit shifting and corporate tax avoidance. We argue that voters are often more concerned about the concentration of corporate power than about tax fairness or inequality. This suggests that the media plays a pivotal role in either reinforcing or challenging the status quo—potentially shifting public opinion toward policies that strengthen democracy against corporate oligarchic influence.
New democratic theory
A central goal of our research is to bridge normative and empirical political theory. Addressing the question, who really governs in a world of unequal economic resources?, requires understanding democracy as a system embedded within market capitalism—one that is shaped by its inequalities.
Most democratic theory focuses on formal political processes while overlooking the deep interconnections between democracy and capitalism. We argue that law, taxation, and intellectual property serve as crucial links between these two systems. By examining how concentrated market power enables corporate-oligarchic elites to reshape legal frameworks in their interests, we highlight a key vulnerability of capitalist democracy.
To protect both liberal democracy and market capitalism, we contend that states must take active measures to weaken the profit-shifting structures and reform intellectual property rights that facilitate extreme wealth concentration.
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