Research clusters

• Behaviour, Identity and Decisions
• Business, Institutions and Policy

Research interests

Professor James’ work concentrates on important issues particularly in the public sector that may benefit from an academic input. Much of his work is interdisciplinary and he has been able to draw on his wide ranging expertise over a range of disciplines and subject areas. This has been supported by his postgraduate degrees of MBA, MSc in Economics, LLM, MA in Education Management and MEd as well as professional qualifications in taxation, marketing, human resource management and accounting. He has a particular interest in combining insights from economics, behavioural science, management and law in analysing tax policy issues. His research has contributed to a number of areas including communications, compliance, disincorporation, European harmonisation, labour market decisions, self assessment and tax reform.

Much of his research has been supported by externally funded grants. His first major research project was conducted full time at the London School of Economics and was funded by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. The main publication arising from it was the research monograph Self-Assessment for Income Tax, (with Nicholas Barr and Alan Prest, Heinemann, 1977). This was followed by a project conducted with the University of Bath over the period 1981/85 on the comprehensibility of Inland Revenue Literature with particular reference to the problems of elderly taxpayers. This was funded by the Nuffield Foundation and the Inland Revenue as it then was and many of the results were included in The Comprehensibility of Taxation: A Study of Taxation and Communications (with Alan Lewis and Frances Allison, Gower, 1987).

Two ESRC grants with Bill Jordon into labour market decisions followed. The first was concerned with ‘Labour Market Decisions in Low Income Households 1988/89 and led to the book Trapped in Poverty?: Labour Market Decisions in Low Income Households (with Bill Jordan, Helen Kay and Marcus Redley, Routledge, 1992). The second was entitled  'Labour Market Decisions in Higher Income Households’ and led to Putting the Family First: Selves, Decisions and Citizenship (with Bill Jordan and Marcus Redley, University College London Press, 1994). After that funding was awarded by the Research Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales for a project into 'The Implementation of Self-Assessment for Income Tax in the UK’ (with R. Luther) 1993/95, which led to a further research monograph. A further grant came from the same source, this time with Gordon Channon and entitled 'The Economic, Legal and Taxation Implications of Disincorporation for Small UK Companies’ and an additional grant for 1997/98. After that was an award from the ESRC jointly with Professor John Hasseldine of the University of Nottingham on ‘The Role of Tax Agencies in Increasing Voluntary Compliance’ for 1999 to 2003 and which led to a number of publications including one in Contemporary Accounting Research. That was followed by a grant from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. ‘Review of the Business Tax System in Rural Areas’ 2003/04. The British Academy made an award for a project into ‘Optimum Tax Compliance Costs and Tax Simplification’, 2003/04 and this paved the way for a much bigger grant from the ESRC for 2006/07 also entitled ‘Optimum Tax Compliance Costs and Tax Simplification’. Simon James’ most recent grant is with Jane Frecknall-Hughes and Rosemarie Mcllwhan of the Open University. It was awarded by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland and the project is on the tax implications of Scottish independence or further devolution.

Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year

Awards and Honours

• Service Medal and Bar, St John Ambulance

Conferences and invited presentations

Papers given Externally since 1990

• Simon James, keynote speaker: ‘Nudging, Behavioural Economics and Financial Behaviour’,  Symposium on ‘The Effect of Law, Rules and regulation on Financial Behaviour’, Open University, Milton Keynes, 7 December 2012.
• Simon James, ‘The Importance of Fairness in Tax Policy: Behavioural Economics and the UK Experience’, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, 19 April 2012.
• Simon James, ‘Does Business School Research have to be ‘Excellent’ to benefit Business School Teaching?’ University of Newcastle, New South Wales, 12 April 2012.
• Simon James, ‘How Behavioural is the UK Government’s Behavioural Insight Team?’ Conference of the Society of Behavioral Economics, University of Granada, Spain, 12-15 July 2012.
• Simon James, ‘Behavioural Economics and the Risks of Tax Administration’Atax 10th International Tax Administration Conference: ‘Risky Business’ Australian School of Business, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2-3 April 2012.
• Simon James, ‘Responsive Regulation and Getting it Right First Time: The Case of Value Added Tax in the UK’, Open University Conference on Regulation and Responsibility: Analysing Behaviour in a Business Environment, Milton Keynes, 12 January 2012.
• Simon James, ‘Is the ranking of university departments according to ‘research excellence’ another example of Goodhart’s law and is such ‘research excellence’ a substitute or a complement to good quality teaching in Economics and Business Studies?’ Conference of The Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics and the International Association for Research into Economic Psychology, University of Exeter, July 2010.
• Simon James, ‘Behavioural Economics and Tax Reform’ 19th Annual Conference of the Tax Research Network, University of  Bangor, 7–8 September 2010.
• Simon James, ‘Combining the Contributions of Behavioral Economics and other Social Sciences in understanding Taxation and Tax Reform’, Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, San Diego State University, 2-5 August 2010.
• Simon James, ‘The Contribution of Behavioral Economics in Explaining the Gap between the Theory and Practice of Tax Reform in the United Kingdom’. Conference of The Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics and the International Association for Research into Economic Psychology, St Mary’s University, Nova Scotia, Canada, 7- 11 July 2009.
• Simon James and Clinton Alley, ‘Successful Tax Reform: The Experience of ValueAdded Tax in the United Kingdom and Goods and Services Tax in New Zealand’, JFMPS Conference Manchester, July 2008.
• Simon James, ‘Does University Research Improve University Teaching? The Higher Education Academy Conference’, Harrogate International Centre, 1-3 July 2008. http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/events/annualconference/2008/Ann_conf_2008_Simon_James
• Simon James, ‘The Complexity of Tax Simplification and Reforming the Process of Tax Reform’ British Accounting Association Annual Conference, Blackpool, 1 – 3 April 2008.
• Simon James and Alison Edwards ‘ Optimum Tax Compliance Costs, Tax Simplification and Developing a Strategy for Tax Reform’, Tax Research Network, 16th Annual Conference, University of Sheffield, 6-7 September 2007.
• Simon James and Alison Edwards, ‘The Importance of Behavioral Economics in Tax Research and Tax Reform: The Issues of Tax Compliance and Tax Simplification’. Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, New York University, May 15-18, 2007.
• Simon James and Alison Edwards, ‘Optimum Tax Compliance Costs and Tax Simplification’ Australian School of Taxation, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 4 May 2007.
• Simon James and Alison Edwards ‘How far Should Tax Research Tax Account of the Wider Context? The Case of Tax Compliance and Tax Simplification’, University of Sydney, 2 May 2007.
• Simon James, John Hasseldine, Peggy Hite and Marika Toumi, ‘Persuasive Communications: Tax Enforcement Strategies for Sole Proprietors’, Australian School of Taxation, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 April 2007.
• Simon James and Alison Edwards, ‘A Strategic Approach to Personal Income Tax Reform’, Conference on Personal Income Tax Reform Symposium: Towards Systematic Reform of the Australian Personal Income Tax: Developing a Sustainable Model for the Future, Australian School of Taxation, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2 and 3 April 2007.
• Simon James ‘Tax Simplification is Not a Simple Issue, The Reasons for Difficulty and a Possibly Strategy’, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, 26 March 2007.
• Simon James ‘Tax Compliance Policy: Recent Developments and New Evidence on Normative Appeals and Auditing’, University of Manchester, 25 January 2006.
• Simon James ‘Tax Simplification is a Complicated Business’, Policy Exchange, Westminster, 27 November 2006.
• Simon James, Thamrongsak Svetalekth and Brian Wright, ‘The Benefits of a More Strategic Approach to Tax Administration and the Role of Performance Indicators’ Conference on Tax Administration, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 20-21 April 2006.
• Simon James, Thamrongsak Svetalekth and Brian Wright, ‘Tax Officials’ Attitudes, Performance Indicators and the Efficiency of Tax Collection,’ International Association for Research in Economic Psychology/ Society for the Advancement of Behavioural Economics, Sorbonne, Paris, 5-8 July, 2006.
• Simon James, Kristina Murphy and Monika Reinhart ‘Developing a Strategic Approach to Managing Tax Compliance – the Importance of Taxpayers’ Beliefs and Views’, International Association for Research in Economic Psychology, Prague, 21 – 24 September 2005.
• Simon James ‘Does University Research Improve University Teaching in Management?’British Academy of Management Conference, University of Oxford 13-15 September 2005.
• Simon James, Thamrongsak Svetalekth and Brian Wright, ‘Tax Charters, Performance Indicators and the Case for a More Strategic Approach to Tax Administration’, Tax Research Network Conference, University of Edinburgh, 8th –9th September 2005.
• Simon James and Adrian Sawyer, ‘International Trends in Taxation and the Taxation of Investment’, Tax Research Network Conference, Bournemouth University 16th – 17th September 2004.
• Simon James ‘Does University Research Improve University Teaching?’ International Association for Research in Economic Psychology/ Society for the Advancement of Behavioural Economics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, July 15 - July 18, 2004.
• Simon James, Tina Murphy and Monika Reinhart ‘Is Tax Compliance a ‘Rational’ or ‘Social’ Affair’? Preliminary Evidence from a New Australian Survey’, Australian National University, 11 April 2003.
• Simon James, Tina Murphy and Monika Reinhart ‘ ‘Economic Rationality and Taxpayer Responsibility – Preliminary Evidence from a New Australian Survey’, for the Australian Tax Office, Hobart 2 May 2003.
• Simon James, Tina Murphy and Monika Reinhart ‘Tax Compliance and Taxpayer Attitudes’, University of Sydney, 7 May 2003.
• Simon James, Tina Murphy and Monika Reinhart ‘Economic Rationality and Taxpayer Responsibility – Preliminary Evidence from a New Australian Survey’, for the Australian Tax Office, Brisbane, (Novotel Brisbane conference room required for large turnout), 15 May 2003.
• Simon James, Tina Murphy and Monika Reinhart ‘Tax Compliance: A New Australian Survey’, University of Queensland, 16 May 2003.
• Simon James, Tina Murphy and Monika Reinhart ‘Economic Rationality and Taxpayer Responsibility – Preliminary Evidence from A New Australian Survey’, 25th Annual ACIPFAL Conference, Cardiff, 25-26th June 2003.
• Simon James, Tina Murphy and Monika Reinhart ‘Taxpayer Beliefs and Views: A New Survey’, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, 2003 conference, Lake Tahoe, USA, 28-31 July 2003.
• Simon James, Kristina Murphy and Monika Reinhart, ‘Taxpayer Beliefs and Views: A New Survey’ Tax Research Network Conference, University of Oxford, 17th – 18th September 2003.
• Simon James, John Hasseldine, Peggy Hite and Marika Toumi, 'Tax Compliance Policy: An International Comparison and New Evidence on Normative Appeals and Auditing.' ESRC Future Governance Workshop, Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, 9-10 December 2003.
• Simon James, John Hasseldine, Peggy Hite and Marika Toumi 'Tax Compliance Policy: An International Comparison and New Evidence on Normative Appeals and Auditing.' ESRC Future Governance Workshop, Centre for Policy Studies, Central European University, Budapest, 11 December 2003.
• Simon James, ‘The Role of Tax Agencies in Influencing Taxpayer Compliance’ 5th International Conference on Tax Administration, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 4-5 April 2002.
• Simon James, ‘Economics of Taxation within a Federal Context’, 12th Tax Research Network Conference, Clare College and the Faculty of Law, University of  Cambridge, 5-6 September 2002.
• Simon James, ‘Developing a Strategy for Tax Compliance’ Centre for Tax System Integrity, Australian National University, Canberra, 11 April, 2001.
• Simon James, ‘Tax Harmonisation’ Australian Taxation Studies Programme, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, 20 April, 2001.
• Simon James, ‘The Role of Tax Agencies in Influencing Taxpayer Response’. Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, Center for Economic Research, Dept. of Economics, George Washington University, Washington DC, 11-12 June, 2001.
• Simon James, ‘The Complexities of Tax Simplification’ Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, 21 April, 2000.
• Simon James, ‘The Taxpayer as Responsible Citizen’ at the conference of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics on ‘Citizenship and Exclusion’ London School of Economics, 7-10 July 2000.
• Simon James, ‘The Taxpayer as a Co-operative Citizen’ at the conference of the International Association for Research in Economic Psychology, and the Society for the Advancement of Behavioural Economics on ‘Fairness and Co-operation’, Baden, Austria 12-16 July 2000.
• Simon James, ‘Teaching Tax Principles and Policy: Comparing the Single Textbook  and Wider Reading Approaches,’ 10th Tax Research Network Conference, University of Birmingham 11th-12th September 2000.
• Simon James, ‘Tax Policy in the European Union’, Ministerstwo Gospodarki (Ministry of the Economy) Warsaw, Poland, 15 November 2000.
• Simon James, ‘Tax Simplification is a Complicated Business’ Australian National University, 16 April 1999.
• Simon James, ‘Issues in Tax Reform’ to Senior Officers of the Australian Tax Office at the Federal Police College, Canberra 19 April 1999.
• Simon James, ‘Tax Research as Economic Research’ Tax Research Network Workshop on  Interdisciplinary Research in Taxation, University of Birmingham, 12 May 1999.
• Simon James, ‘Tax Compliance in New Zealand’ with Clinton Alley, XXIV Annual Conference of the International Association for Research in Economic Psychology, Belgirate, Lago Maggiore, Italy, 30 June - 3 July 1999.
• Simon James, ‘GST/VAT: The European Experience’ Curtin Business School, Curtin University, Western Australia, 1 September 1999.
• Simon James, ‘The Economic Aims of Tax Reform’ at the Summit Programme, ‘The Future of Taxation Reform, Adam Smith Institute, 8 December 1999.
• Ali Edwards, Gordon Channon and Simon James, 'The Economic, Legal and Taxation Effects of Disincorporation’. Conference of the British Accounting Association, Manchester, 1-3 April 1998.
• Simon James, Adrian Sawyer and Ian Wallschutzky, ‘The Complexities of Tax Simplification: Progress in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom’, International Conference on Tax Administration, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 16-17 April 1998.
• Simon James and Alison Edwards, ‘Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Small Business Research’ International Association for Research in Economic Psychology Workshop on Qualitative Research Methods, Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, 1-2 May 1998.
• Simon James, ‘A Strategic Analysis of the Future International Business Tax Environment’. China International Business Symposium, Shanghai, 27-29 May 1998.
• Simon James, ‘The Behaviour of Revenue Services as a Variable in Tax Administration and Tax Compliance’. Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Socioeconomics (SASE) and the Society for the Advancement of Behavioural Economics (SABE), Vienna, Austria, 13-16 July 1998.
• Simon James, ‘The Complexities of Tax Simplification,’ University of Waikato, New Zealand, 23 September 1998.
• Simon James, ‘Current Issues in Tax Research’, at the Headquarters of the Australian Tax Office, Constitution Avenue, Canberra, 26 November 1998.
• Simon James, 'Small Business Attitudes’ paper given at the Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Behavioural Economics (SABE), Washington and Lee University, USA,  21-22 June 1997.
• Simon James, 'Tax Harmonisation', School of Economics and Finance, Curtin University, Western Australia, 7 August 1997.
• Simon James, ‘Tax Simplification: A Complicated Business’ Deputy Vice-Chancellor's seminar series, Curtin University, Western Australia, 13 August 1997.
• Simon James, 'The Future of Tax Administration’, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 21 August 1997.
• Simon James, 'Tax Education and Training’, Massey University, New Zealand, 22 August 1997.
• Gordon Channon, Ali Edwards and Simon James, 'The Economic, Legal and Taxation Effects of Disincorporation: Some Preliminary Results’, ICAEW Tax Research Workshop University of Leeds, September 1997.
• Simon James, 'Self-Assessment and the UK Tax System', Conference on Tax Administration, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 11-12 April 1996.
• Simon James, 'Tax Education and Tax Training' Tax Workshop, University of Warwick, May 1996.
• Simon James, 'Tax Compliance Revisited’ Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Socioeconomics (SASE) and the Society for the Advancement of Behavioural Economics (SABE), University of Geneva, July 1996.
• Simon James, 'A Comparison of the Education and Training of Taxation Professionals and Officials in the UK and Australia’ (with Chris Evans, Associate Director of the Australian Taxation Studies Programme, University of New South Wales, Sydney). Paper given at the 7th Annual Australasian Tax Teachers’ Conference, Perth, Western Australia, January 1995.
• Simon James, 'Public Policy and Female Household Investment Strategy in Human and Non-Human Capital', Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Behavioural Economics, University of Toronto, August 1995.
• Simon James, 'Should Australia Adopt a Cumulative Withholding Tax System?’ Current Issues in Tax Administration Conference, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, 7-8 April 1994.
• Simon James, 'Female Household Investment Strategy in Human and Non-Human Capital', joint IAREP/SABE conference, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 11-13 July 1994.
• Simon James, 'The Electronic Submission of Tax Returns: A Brave New World?' Institute of Chartered Accountants’ Tax Workshop University of Huddersfield, 9 September 1994.
• Simon James, 'Self-Assessment for Income Tax in the UK?’ University of Manchester March 1993.
• Simon James, 'Taxation and Female Participation in the Labour Market', Department of Economics, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, April 1993.
• Simon James, 'GST ­ RIP Where to from Here?’ Department of Commerce, University of Newcastle New South Wales Australia¸ April 1993.
• Simon James, 'Female Labour Supply and the Division of Labour in Families’. Conference of The Society for the Advancement of Behavioural Economics, Rensselaerville, New York USA, 13-15 August 1993.
• Simon James, 'Taxation and Female Participation in the Labour Markets’ at the International Association for Research into Economic Psychology Workshop on 'Economic Psychological Perspectives on Taxation’ at the Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands March 1992.
• Simon James, ‘Labour Market Decisions in Low Income Households’ International Association for Research in Economic Psychology, University of Exeter 4-7th July 1990.
   

External positions

• ESRC grant holder 2006/2007, £98,177 for a project on 'Optimum Compliance Costs and Tax Simplification'
• DEFRA Research Award for a 'Review of the Business Taxation Systems in Rural Areas', 2003/2004
• British Academy Award Holder, 2003/2004
• ESRC joint grant holder, 1999/2003
• Mentor to ESRC post-doctoral fellow, 2007/8
• Rapporteur ESRC
• Member, Executive Board, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics
• Editor, Newsletter of the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, since 2002
• Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Socio-Economics
• Member, Editorial Board, Asia-Pacific Journal of Taxation
• Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Australian Taxation
• Member, Editorial Board, Legal Issues in Business
• External Examiner, University of Manchester Business School, 2009-2013
• External Examiner, Lancaster University, MSC in Management; MSc in Management and Marketing; MSc in Management and Law, 2010-2013
• External Examiner, PhD, University of Bath, 2008
• External Examiner, PhD, University of New South Wales, 2008/9
• External Examiner, PhD, Australian National University, 2009
• Member, Committee of the South West of England Branch of the Chartered Institute of Taxation

Professor James’ teaching in recent years has included:

• Public Finance
• Taxation
• International Financial Management

One of his main teaching interests is showing how analysis can provide insight into policy issues. Public Finance deals with both public expenditure and finance dealing with the principles of the subject and applying them to the understanding of policy and practice, drawing on experience both in the UK and overseas. His course on International Financial Management  extends finance to an international setting. It is concerned with the relevant international financial environment and how commercial decisions are affected by factors such as exchange rate and country risk.

Modules

2017/18

• BEE2033 - Public Finance
• BEMM135 - International Financial Management