Stephen Smith is a Professor of Economics at University College London (UCL), and Executive Dean of the UCL Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences. He began his career as a member of the UK Government Economic Service at the Department of Trade and Industry, and then, from 1985 to 1997, worked at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), a London-based ... Read moreresearch institute specializing in the economics of taxation and public policy.. His research covers various topics in the economics of tax policy and environmental economics. He is the author of Britain's Shadow Economy, (OUP, 1986), and a series of research reports and academic papers. He has recently co-authored papers on VAT and on Environmental Taxation for the IFS-sponsored Mirrlees Review, a fundamental review of the UK tax system, which reported in 2010. He is a member of the DEFRA Academic Panel on Environmental Economics, and has acted as a consultant to a number of government departments and international organisations. Show Less