Financing social protection remains a key constraint in developing countries. This project focuses on two alternative public finance approaches, and the related political economy factors, that can facilitate the financing of social protection systems:
- taxation of consumption and natural resources
- income and payroll taxation.
This is a component of a larger research project ‘The economics and politics of taxation and social protection’ that sheds light on the system-wide impacts of social protection and tax systems in developing countries.
Determining how best to publically finance social protection involves important political economy considerations
Shifting public expenditure towards social protection through taxations of consumption and natural resources, and sustaining its political legitimacy is difficult if it implies big losses for companies. On the other hand, redistribution approach via income and payroll taxation could reduce work incentives for marginal workers, and taxes on non-labour income may reduce incentives to save. Tax payers would be more willing to finance social protection if they were direct beneficiaries of such reforms.
The project looks at these important political economy considerations and generates model predictions under heterogeneous societal conditions. This research improves understanding about which features foster successful adoption of social protection reforms.
SAPI database aims to expands data collection efforts
To facilitate the research, a new database on Social Assistance, Politics and Institutions (SAPI) was generated. SAPI provides a synthesis of longitudinal and comparable information on social assistance programmes in developing countries, and country-level information on economic and social performance and political institutions.
This is part of the 'The economics and politics of taxation and social protection' project.
Team
Focal point: Miguel Niño-Zarazúa
Assistant: Kati Hirvonen
Communications: Annett Victorero
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Technical Note
Exploring the quality of income data in two South African household surveys which underpin SAMODThis note has set out several data processes that have been undertaken using the income data in dataset(s) that underpin SAMOD. Section 1 describes various data-cleaning steps that were undertaken when preparing the LCS 2014/15 as an underpinning...
Technical Note
Top income adjustments and tax reforms in Ecuador: an application of ECUAMODThis technical note has been produced alongside a WIDER working paper assessing the effects on income inequality and income tax simulations of adjusting top incomes of employees in survey data based on administrative tax records in Ecuador. The paper...
Technical Note
Unemployment insurance and income protection in Ecuador: an application of ECUAMODThis note has been produced alongside a WIDER working paper assessing the effect of the Unemployment Insurance benefit on income protection in Ecuador. The aim of this note is to describe the methodology used to assess the effect of the Unemployment...
Working Paper
Exploring the quality of income data in two African household surveys for the purpose of tax-benefit microsimulation modellingThe quality of data on employment income is explored using Tanzanian and Zambian household survey datasets. The extent of missing and implausible income data is assessed and four different methods are applied to impute missing or implausible values...
Working Paper
The case of taxing multinational corporations in UgandaWe study how large domestic firms and multinational corporations compare in their effective tax rates and whether there is evidence of profit shifting out of Uganda. Using administrative data from the Uganda Revenue Authority and regression analysis...
Working Paper
Do tax administrative interventions targeted at small businesses improve tax compliance and revenue collection?This paper conducts an impact evaluation of the effects of two tax administration interventions—a taxpayer register expansion and education programme, and a new electronic filing system for presumptive tax—on the number of small business taxpayers...
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...
Book
The Politics of Social Protection in Eastern and Southern AfricaThe notion that social protection should be a key strategy for reducing poverty in developing countries has now been mainstreamed within international development policy and practice. Promoted as an integral dimension of the post-Washington Consensus...
Policy Brief
The politics of social protection in Eastern and Southern AfricaSince the mid-1990s, there has been in Africa something of a ‘quiet revolution’ in poverty reduction strategies with the proliferation of social assistance programmes that entail cash transfers to the poor. The past two decades have also been...
Journal Article
Institutionalizing SegregationPart of Journal Special Issue Welfare and distributive effects of social assistance in the Global South
Journal Article
Cash Transfers and Gender Differentials in Child Schooling and LaborPart of Journal Special Issue Welfare and distributive effects of social assistance in the Global South
Journal Article
Schooling and Labor Market Impacts of Bolivia's Bono Juancito Pinto ProgramPart of Journal Special Issue Welfare and distributive effects of social assistance in the Global South
Journal Article
Educational Assistance and Education Quality in IndonesiaPart of Journal Special Issue Welfare and distributive effects of social assistance in the Global South
Journal Article
The National Care System in UruguayPart of Journal Special Issue Welfare and distributive effects of social assistance in the Global South
Journal Article
The Intergenerational Impact of China's New Rural Pension SchemePart of Journal Special Issue Welfare and distributive effects of social assistance in the Global South
Journal Article
Basic Old‐Age Protection in Latin AmericaPart of Journal Special Issue Welfare and distributive effects of social assistance in the Global South
Journal Article
Welfare and Redistributive Effects of Social Assistance in the Global SouthPart of Journal Special Issue Welfare and distributive effects of social assistance in the Global South
Journal Special Issue
Welfare and distributive effects of social assistance in the Global SouthThis special issue presents an analysis of the recent evolution of social assistance in the developing world, looking at its complex typological configuration. It partly reflects the complex demographic and epidemiological transitions and rapid...
Journal Article
Trade, poverty, and social protection in developing countriesHow do shifts in trade affect social protections for the poor? Although the fraction of the world's population considered the “extreme” poor has fallen by over one-half over the past quarter century, many of those lifted above the global poverty line...
Journal Article
How does petty corruption affect tax morale in sub-Saharan Africa?Revenues from taxation gain in importance to finance economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. One obstacle to enhancing the willingness to remit taxes can be the extortion of bribes by public officials. Using micro-level data from the...
Journal Article
Taxation and social protection under governance decentralisationGovernments do not have perfect information regarding constituent priorities and needs. This lack of knowledge opens the door for groups to lobby in order to affect the taxes they pay the government. We examine the political economy of a...
Context
Main subject
Theme: 2014-18, Inclusion