18 UNU-WIDER articles, publications, projects, experts...
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Inequality, fiscal space, and crisis response — A matter of priority, affordability, or both?
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments financed more than 5000 fiscal support policies worldwide in 2020–21...
Fiscal policy Fiscal capacity InequalityPresentation
Kunal Sen to present at TaxCapDev conferenceUNU-WIDER Director Kunal Sen presents at the TaxCapDev conference Power and Politics – Perspectives on Taxation and State Building in Africa on 1-2 September 2022, held in Bergen, Norway. Kunal Sen will participate in two panels over the...
Blog
State assigned property rights and revenue collection in sub-Saharan AfricaAcross sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries there are striking differences in citizen willingness to pay taxes...
Fiscal capacity Building State Capabilities State capacityBlog
Fiscal states in developing economies: Why do they matter and where do they come from?Modern states are complex organizations which perform a broad range of functions. They have an important role in economic and human development...
Fiscal capacity State capacity Building State CapabilitiesBlog
Tax revenues and tax capacity in sub-Saharan AfricaAfrican countries raise lower amounts of tax as a share of national income (GDP) than other countries. Researchers are interested in understanding why this is the case...
Government tax revenue Government revenue domestic resource mobilizationWorking Paper
Taxless fiscal states: Lessons from 19th-century America and 21st-century ChinaHow do modern fiscal states arise?...
Public finance Fiscal capacity LandWorking Paper
No taxation without informational foundation: On the role of legibility in tax state developmentThis paper combines cross-national statistical analysis and in-depth historical case studies of Argentina and Chile to explore the relationship between two crucial dimensions of state capacity...
State capacity Information Fiscal capacityWorking Paper
Fiscal capacity in non-democratic states: the origins and expansion of income taxThe origins of fiscal capacity have traditionally been linked to warfare and democratization. However, non-democratic states also invest in fiscal capacity, even in times of peace...
Fiscal capacity Autocracy Income taxWorking Paper
What are the drivers of tax capacity in sub-Saharan Africa?There is limited research on the underlying institutional framework of tax policy and capacity: how tax collection efficiency changes over time and the importance of institutional factors in this process...
Fiscal capacity General-to-specific Tax policyProject workshop

Working Paper
Is there a fiscal resource curse?: Resource rents, fiscal capacity, and political institutions in developing economiesStates’ fiscal capacity plays a pivotal role in developing economies, but it is less clear what its determinants are or what explains cross-country differences. We focus on the impact of natural resources...
State capacity Fiscal capacity Resource curseProject

Theme: Transforming states
Fiscal capacity Taxation Building State CapabilitiesBlog
How can developing countries pay for the SDGs?With official development assistance under strain, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will require developing countries to rely increasingly on their own resources...
SDGs Millennium Development Goals Official development assistanceBlog
Developing countries would benefit from improved tax collection: What can help?The ability to raise revenues from taxes – called “fiscal capacity” – is a crucial aspect for the functioning of any state...
Tax revenue Fiscal capacity Income taxJournal Article
The impact of intergovernmental transfers on local revenue generation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from TanzaniaDo intergovernmental transfers reduce revenues collected by local government authorities (LGAs)?...
Fiscal capacity Intergovernmental grants Sub-Saharan Africa