Public economics for development

Despite successes in poverty reduction and improvements in health and educational outcomes in many low-income countries, development challenges remain extensive. They cannot be addressed effectively without a well-functioning public sector. This requires both building up tax systems that generate required revenues in an equitable manner, and organizing a well-functioning system of public service delivery. There is as well a pressing need to enhance the functioning of the public sector in developing countries — also policy action needs to be better served by analysis and data.

The conference focuses on the lessons from modern public and development economics which can guide policy makers to reform tax and public provision systems. It will take stock of current evidence on the impacts of the public sector on the economy and the wellbeing of citizens, and about ways to improve tax and public spending policies. An important goal of the conference is to identify avenues for future research.

With that objective, the conference will bring together about 150-200 participants from the academic, government, and development communities from all over the world and provide a forum to discuss innovative, theoretical, and empirical research. The conference will consist of plenary sessions with keynote speakers, parallel sessions with contributed papers, and a poster session. See the full programme here.