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Working Paper
Measuring wealth inequality in South AfricaUnderstanding wealth inequality has unique significance in South Africa. The co-existence of extreme poverty and extreme wealth is starkly visible. Apartheid-era inequality has persisted despite more than 20 years of democracy. Much of the research...
Working Paper
Earnings and employment microdata in South AfricaTraditionally, analysts of the South African labour market have used household survey data to describe earnings and employment in the post-Apartheid period. More recently, administrative data from the South African Revenue Service has been made...
Working Paper
Top incomes’ impacts on inequality, growth, and social welfareThis paper evaluates the impacts of combining household surveys with income tax return files, in terms of growth, inequality, and social welfare in Brazil from 2007 to 2015. This exercise holds the promise of adding more realistic top income values...
Working Paper
The creation of an individual panel using administrative tax microdata in South AfricaThe availability of anonymized individual tax return data can contribute to a deeper understanding of the drivers behind the high levels of inequality and unemployment in South Africa. In the recent past, researchers have examined either payroll or...
Working Paper
Can a wage subsidy system help reduce 50 per cent youth unemployment?The paper examines the incidence and employment impacts of the Employment Tax Incentive, a South African wage subsidy system that is targeted at the employers of low-wage youth. The paper uses a triple differences strategy and survey and...
Working Paper
Gender and the South African labour marketThis paper has three primary objectives. First, it provides a broad overview of the available South African data used to examine gender in the labour market, with specific reference to the South African Revenue Services (SARS) tax data which has...
Working Paper
The size distribution of monetary policy effects among South African manufacturing firmsMonetary policy is believed to have a disproportionate effect on firms, depending on their size. Financially constrained firms with limited access to capital markets are expected to be more sensitive to changes in interest rates; this is...
Working Paper
How large is the wage penalty in the labour broker sector?Public debate on the temporary employment services, or labour broker, sector in South Africa has focused on temporary workers’ wages and benefits. Empirical research is limited: temporary employment services cannot be accurately identified in recent...
Working Paper
Estimating the distribution of household wealth in South AfricaThis paper estimates the distribution of personal wealth in South Africa by combining tax microdata, household surveys, and macroeconomic balance sheet statistics. We systematically compare estimates of the wealth distribution obtained by direct...
Working Paper
How have formal firms recovered from the pandemic?This paper examines how formal firms have been impacted by and recovered from the pandemic by drawing on two distinct but complementary data sources. This is the first attempt to use both survey and tax administrative data to measure the initial...
Working Paper
Top earners and earnings inequality during the COVID-19 pandemicThis paper aims to assess the extent to which top earners in Ecuador were affected by the COVID-19 crisis compared to other segments of the population. Our analysis uses administrative data for individuals affiliated to social security between...
Working Paper
Measuring earnings inequality in South Africa using household survey and administrative tax microdataOverall income inequality in South Africa is very high, and inequality generated in the labour market is a key driver of inequality. In this paper, I use the Post-Apartheid Labour Market Series, the General Household Surveys, and administrative tax...
Working Paper
What explains the gender gap in top incomes in developing countries?Based on tax records data from Ecuador, we analyse gender differences in top income groups from 2008 to 2017. Ecuador represents an interesting case as it shares many trends with other countries in the region in terms of women’s status in the labour...
Background Note
Building tax data for researchIntroduction: data for development Globally, one of the key factors associated with increasing use of data to inform policy-making has been the increased availability of new administrative data sources. In 2014, the National Treasury of South Africa...
Blog
Ending aid dependency: Taxation in developing countries can be improved through collaborationFinland aims to raise the amount of its development assistance to 0.7% of GDP, and this goal has good grounds. But how can we make sure that the...
Working Paper
The effects of personal income tax reform on employees’ taxable income in UgandaWe evaluate a major personal income tax reform in Uganda that came into effect in 2012–13. The reform increased the tax-free lower threshold, increased tax rates for higher incomes, and introduced an additional highest tax band. Using the universe of...
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