David Leite

Post-doctoral Fellow

National Bureau of Economic Research
1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
leited@nber.org

I am a Post-doctoral Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), advised by James Poterba. I received my PhD in Economics from the Paris School of Economics, under the supervision of Antoine Bozio.

My research interests are Public Finance, Household Finance, and Labor Economics. I use large-scale administrative data to study tax avoidance by firms and individuals (in particular, personal consumption channeled through businesses), behavioral responses to tax collection mechanisms such as withholding, and labor supply, wage gaps, and migration.

Research interests: Public Finance · Labor Economics

Research

Working Papers

The Firm as Tax Shelter: Micro Evidence and Aggregate Implications of Consumption Through the Firm

Revise & Resubmit, Quarterly Journal of Economics.

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Awards:

Heinz König Award — ZEW Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, 2025
Young Researcher Award in Public Finance — European Tax Observatory, 2025
Peggy and Richard Musgrave Award — International Institute of Public Finance, 2024
Best Paper Award — Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation, 2024

Media: Washington Center for Equitable Growth; Nada es Gratis; Alternatives Economiques; Expresso.

Tax Withholding and Labor Supply: Evidence from Bunching at the Withholding Eligibility Threshold

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Work in Progress

From Expenditure to Earnings: The Direct and Indirect Costs of Having Children

with J. Montana

Private Consumption within Firms and Dividend Taxation: Evidence for Norway

with A. Alstadsæter, W. Kopczuk, and T. Heiene

Presentations

2026: 60th Annual Meetings of the Canadian Economics Association, Vancouver, BC.
2025: Michigan Public Finance Seminar, University of Michigan; ZEW Public Finance Conference, Mannheim; Norwegian Tax Administration, Oslo; Servicio Impuestos Internos, Santiago de Chile; Statistics Norway Research Department, Oslo.
2024: Irish Public Economics Workshop, Dublin; Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation, Oxford; 80th Annual Congress of the IIPF, Prague; NBER Public Economics Program Meeting; CESifo Conference on Public Economics, Munich.
2023: CEPR Policy Forum, Paris; EUTax Workshop on the Economics of Taxation, Barcelona.
2022: Applied Economics Seminar, Paris School of Economics.
2021: Mannheim Taxation Conference (online); Public Finance Seminar (online).
2020: 76th Annual Congress of the IIPF (online).