11 Aug 08

The effect of taxation and how people spend their time are the two areas being investigated.

Two research projects in Oxford’s social sciences – into the impact of taxation on business and how different societies across the globe spend their time – have attracted major funding. The two large grants from the Economic and Social Research Council are worth £4 million in total.

A project led by Professor Michael Devereux, Director of the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation and Professor of Business Taxation at the Saїd Business School, is to receive £2.2 million over four years.

Taxation can have large knock-on effects on the choices that a business can make including higher product price, lower wages and how a business may invest. This project will further investigate the ways in which governments tax business, and explore how governments in the future can improve the design and management of business taxes.

Meanwhile a project looking at how we spend time rather than money, led by Professor Jonathan Gershuny from Oxford’s Department of Sociology, will receive £1.9 million over the next five years.

Through surveys and the collection of detailed diaries, researchers at the Centre for Time Use Research will analyse how people from across 76 countries use their time.

They will examine whether our use of time has changed over time, and whether the way we spend our time is affected by class, life stages or our gender. They will also explore the impact of government policy on the way we conduct our daily life.

The ESRC large grants scheme provides funding for experienced researchers who need longer term or extended support. Oxford received half of the four large gants available in the latest funding round. The scheme aims to support research that addresses important social and economic issues both within the UK and globally.