Call for papers
Symposium on Taxation and Revenue Mobilization in Developing Countries

The deadline for submissions is closed.

The International Centre for Taxation and Development (ICTD) and UNU-WIDER have initiated a new collaboration on taxation, revenue mobilization and development. The collaboration aims to encourage the creation and distribution of more accurate data on government revenues as well as its analysis for policy.

The International Centre for Taxation and Development (ICTD) has over the past three years undertaken the major task of initiating and developing the Government Revenue Database (GRD), which combines data from several major international databases, as well as drawing on data compiled from all available International Monetary Fund (IMF) Article IV reports. This work has resulted in a more complete and accurate cross-country government revenue dataset, and one that is regularly updated. UNU-WIDER is undertaking research on a wide range of taxation, revenue and development issues under its 2014-18 work programme, hosts the World Income Inequality Database (WIID) and is presently developing a database on social protection.

An important aim of the collaboration is to encourage further use of the GRD by economists, political scientists and others working to improve the quality of analysis available to policy-makers in developing countries. More broadly, the collaboration seeks to encourage innovation in data collection, analytical methods, and a heightened awareness among policymakers and researchers of the role of taxation and revenue mobilization in achieving inclusive and sustainable development.

The Symposium is part of the UNU-WIDER ‘Macro-Economic Management’ project.

Objectives

The ICTD and UNU-WIDER Symposium on Taxation and Revenue Mobilization in Developing Countries aims to bring together researchers interested in employing the GRD database to address primarily, although not exclusively, the following questions:

What is the impact on economic growth of tax policy, its instruments, and its institutions?
How does tax policy interact with public finance more broadly, in for example, improving government performance?
What tax regimes have been more effective in tackling high levels of income inequality, and what is the role for tax policy and its instruments in poverty reduction?
What is the political economy of tax and revenue mobilization in developing countries? Are more competitive democratic political systems associated with better tax systems?
How are natural resource rents taxed, and what issues arise in ensuring that this revenue mobilization is effective for growth and development goals?
What role does foreign aid play in tax and revenue reform, both in terms of policy and institutions?

Papers are invited to contribute to the Symposium covering aspects of the following areas:

Replication of earlier econometric studies
Global and regional comparative analysis
Theoretical models with empirical applications
Political economy models

The Symposium is intended for established and mid-career researchers, as well as PhD students currently working on, or interested in, issues related to taxation and revenue mobilization in developing countries. Female and developing country participants are particularly encouraged to apply.

Submissions

Deadline for call for paper submission is 15 September 2015 23:59 EET.

Interested researchers should complete the online application form, include an updated CV, and submit a paper proposal.

Queries and responses

Any enquiries regarding the submission process should be sent to GRDcall4papers@wider.unu.edu no later than 1 September. Selected queries and responses will be published on a rolling basis on the Call for Papers announcement page.