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Publications (72)
Blog
– The annual profits multinational corporations shift to tax havens continues to climb and climb
About a decade ago, the world’s biggest economies agreed to crack down on multinational corporations’ abusive use of tax havens. This resulted in a 15-point action plan that aimed to curb practices that shielded a large chunk of corporate profits from tax authorities.But, according to our estimates...
– Addressing the lack of data and observing the structure of the economy
With the recent democratic elections, Myanmar has entered a new development phase. To support this process there is amongst others a need for sound economic policies that have an economy-wide perspective. To enable such policies, appropriate analytical methods and the relevant underlying data, must...
– Experience over the last fifty years
Asia has achieved remarkable economic growth and seen hundreds of millions of citizens rise out of poverty since the mid-1960s. Constructing and analysing the factors behind continent’s poverty and inequality over the last fifty years helps gain important insights for further reducing global poverty...
Research Brief
pdf
Microfinance evaluations reveal a positive impact on per capita income, non-land asset value and poverty incidence. Across countries and methodologies, microfinance is most likely to have a short-term positive effect; regionally, the most positive impacts are seen in Africa. Women tend to benefit...
– Regional integration in southern Africa through supermarkets
Walk into any supermarket and you will find a mix of products to stock the kitchen. It’s easy to assume that many of the goods on offer are sourced locally and from nearby countries. In the region of southern Africa, however, imported goods are often shipped from another continent instead of...
Blog
Augustin Fosu and Wim Naudé African economies have been shaken by the global economic downturn which followed the US-centered financial crisis of 2008. Africa’s growth rate for 2009 and 2010 has recently been revised substantially downwards by international financial institutions. For instance the...
Blog
– What Prospects for Global Development?
Wim Naudé In the run-up to the Group of 20 (G-20) Summit that was held in London on 2 April 2009, many institutions (including governments, development organizations, NGOs and academics) identified issues and made recommendations for consideration. In this article I examine a selection of these...
Blog
– The CFA Franc Zone 1994-2003
by David FieldingMonetary Union in AfricaIn the last ten years, there has been much debate about the economic impact of monetary union, in which several countries share a single currency and a single central bank. The main focus of attention has been the newly formed European Monetary Union, the...
Blog
While growing up, I was troubled by the scale of the socioeconomic gap between the haves and the have-nots in the community around me. I saw cases where some individuals and households could afford education, quality healthcare, nice houses, nutritious food and good clothing, while others lived in...
Capital flight from developing countries – what is it, how is it measured, and what have we learned?
Many worry that developing countries lose a substantial amount of money via capital flight, that is, outflows of cash and securities — part of which can also be illegal. Those funds, if they came into the limelight, could be subject to tax and the revenues could support the financing of important...
Blog
The celebration of the 30th Anniversary of UNU-WIDER presented the ideal opportunity to look back, take stock, and plan ahead. Where else can a group of early career researchers have the chance to present at a conference including Nobel Laureates such as Joseph Stiglitz, Martti Ahtisaari and Amartya...
– Research recommendations to improve policies
How can we determine the taxation of wage earners or multinational corporations in a fair manner? Will simplifying tax administration help increase tax compliance in a low-income country context? In this blog, we highlight several policy recommendations arising from our collaborative research...
Blog
by Tony Addison The last ten years or so have seen 56 major armed conflicts in 44 different locations, most of them civil wars. Different types of conflict have different types of effect on the domestic financial system. These include: guerrilla insurrections that disrupt the rural financial system...
Blog
– The Real Price of Green Energy
4 July 2013 Carl-Gustav Lindén In recent years the price of green energy technology has come down dramatically. This means that European investments in renewable energy can be very competitive. But in developing countries this price drop is not enough, as the cost of capital is so much higher than...
Research Brief
pdf
– IMF financing versus debt-restructuring
In the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, debt crises have plagued low-, middle-, and high-income countries at various times. Indebted countries have generally addressed balance of payments crises either by (a) obtaining International Monetary Fund (IMF) emergency financing; or (b)...
– What can help?
The ability to raise revenues from taxes – called “fiscal capacity” – is a crucial aspect for the functioning of any state. Being able to tax citizens, and collect revenues efficiently, is a cornerstone of state formation and survival. Secondly, greater fiscal capacity implies greater access of the...
Displaying 16 of 72 results