New publication
We are excited to announce that TAXLAW has just reached an important milestone: our first academic article has been published in Socio-Economic Review!
The article, co-authored by Corentin Durand and Jérôme Pélisse, dives into an underexplored but powerful dynamic in regulatory processes—how professional face-to-face events shape the interpretation and application of law.
Titled “The asymmetrical negotiation of legal certainty: neutral places in taxation law in France”, the paper challenges traditional views of how regulation works. While much research on regulatory capture focuses on lobbying or institutional ties, this study brings attention to a more subtle and pervasive form of influence: the everyday encounters between regulators and regulated parties in professional settings like seminars, conferences, and training sessions.
Drawing from the sociological insights of Pierre Bourdieu and Luc Boltanski, the authors revisit the idea of «neutral places»—spaces where competing actors are supposed to engage on equal footing. But rather than being neutral, the paper argues that these events often function as arenas where dominant actors in the field (especially in tax law) quietly shape the rules of the game.
You can find the article here.
Corentin D. & Pélisse, J. (2025). The asymmetrical negotiation of legal certainty: neutral places in taxation law in France. Socio-Economic Review, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwaf036