Journal Special Issue
Fiscal state capacity

This special issue presents new research on the state and its links to economic and social development. The special issue focuses on the processes of institutional transformation of the state, looking at how fiscal states arise in the developing world.

The resulting set of articles presents a variety of approaches, ranging from case studies (at state and regional level), to comparative historical analysis and to macro-quantitative (country and cross-country level) perspectives. The overarching message is that historical, political and institutional factors are key to understanding the process of fiscal states formation and change around the developing world.

Table of contents
  1. The origins of fiscal states in developing economies: History, politics, and institutions
    Antonio Savoia, Kunal Sen
  2. Constraints on the executive and tax revenues in the long run
    Antonio Savoia, Kunal Sen, Abrams M.E. Tagem
    Working Paper | Constraints on the executive and tax revenues in the long run
  3. Institutions and tax capacity in sub-Saharan Africa
    Abrams M.E. Tagem, Oliver Morrissey
    Working Paper | What are the drivers of tax capacity in sub-Saharan Africa?
  4. Conceptualizing the fiscal state: Implications for sub-Saharan Africa
    Matilde Jeppesen, Ane Karoline Bak, Anne Mette Kjaer
    Working Paper | Fiscal states in sub-Saharan Africa: conceptualization and empirical trends
  5. Fiscal capacity in non-democratic states: The origins and expansion of the income tax
    Per F. Andersson
    Working Paper | Fiscal capacity in non-democratic states: the origins and expansion of income tax
  6. Pre-colonial centralization and tax compliance norms in contemporary Uganda
    Odd-Helge Fjeldstad
    Working Paper | Pre-colonial centralization and tax compliance norms in contemporary Uganda
  7. Problematizing state capacity: The Rwandan case
    Leander Heldring, James A. Robinson
  8. No taxation without informational foundation: On the role of legibility in tax state development
    Matthias Vom Hau, Jose Alejandro Peres Cajías, Hillel David Soifer
    Working Paper | No taxation without informational foundation
  9. No taxation without state-assigned property rights: Formalization of individual property rights on land and taxation in sub-Saharan Africa
    Marina Nistotskaya, Michelle D'Arcy
    Working Paper | No taxation without property rights
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