2021 Vincent Lemieux Prize

Winner: Vanessa van den Boogaard, University of Toronto

Informal Revenue Generation and the State: Evidence from Sierra Leone

Excerpt from jury report: This thesis is a great example of innovative research in political economy. It looks at formal and mostly informal taxation schemes in Sierra Leone. The theoretical framework is sound and solid, and the author manages to integrate the current literature but also brings her own contributions. It is also an excellent empirical project that includes an original survey and hundreds of interviews. It is well written but does not sacrifice sophistication to parsimony. It is also argued with rigour and clarity, and presented in a way that makes it interesting and accessible to diverse audiences in political science.