Taxation Policy in Low-Income Countries

Taxation, Fiscal policy

Universal Pensions in Low Income Countries

Most workers in developing countries have no access to pensions in old age. Well-intentioned reformers have concentrated on privatization, but this does nothing to expand coverage. Non-contributory, universal pensions automatically protect an entire population, in a way that contributory pensions - public or private - never can. This paper explores the feasibility of introducing such pensions in low-income countries. October 2004 revised and expanded edition of the September 2001 paper. Initiative for Policy Dialogue Working Paper No. IPD-01-05.social security, pension reform, citizen's pension

Monetary transmission in low income countries

This paper reviews the monetary transmission mechanism in low income countries (LICs). We use monetary transmission in advanced and emerging markets as a benchmark to identify aspects of the transmission mechanism that may operate differently in LICs. In particular, we focus on the effects of financial market structure on monetary transmission. The weak institutional framework prevalent in LICs drastically reduces the role of securities markets and increases the cost of bank lending to private firms. Coupled with imperfect competition in the banking sector, this means that banks with chronically high excess reserves invest in domestic public bonds or (when possible) in foreign bonds. With the financial system not intermediating funds properly, the traditional monetary transmission channels (interest rate, bank lending, and asset price) are impaired. The exchange rate channel, on the other hand, tends to be undermined by central bank intervention in the foreign exchange market. These conclusions are supported by review of the institutional frameworks, statistical analysis, and previous literature.monetary policy, exchange rate, interest rate, banks, credit, institutions

Fiscal Policy Design in Low-Income Countries

Fiscal policy, Macro-economic stabilization, Sub-Saharan Africa

Employment in Low-Income Countries: Beyond Labor Market Segmentation?

[Excerpt] Throughout the world, there are fundamentally two, and only two, ways that people can escape from poverty. One is by earning their way out of poverty. The other is by receiving socially-provided goods and services that lift them out of poverty. Even with multilateral and bilateral assistance, low-income countries are too poor to be able to make a significant dent in poverty by the social services route alone. This means that creating more and better earning opportunities for the poor is the only other option available. In policy discussions, two mistakes are often made. One is to assume that policy interventions need to be made in the sectors of the economy where the poor are. Such interventions would raise the earnings of the poor in the low-earning sectors. The other mistake is to assume that the most appropriate interventions are in the parts of the economy where the poor are not, so that more of them can be drawn into the higher-earning parts of the economy. Neither is correct. What is required is a careful comparison of the benefits and costs associated with each approach to policy

On the Economic Vulnerability of Low-Income Countries

This paper examines the relevance of the concept of economic vulnerability for low income countries, a topic of recent concern in several international bodies. It first proposes some conceptual clarifications and a method to build an internationally comparable indicator. Three factors of vulnerability are identified: shocks, exposure and resilience or capacity to react (the first two ones being more structural, the third one more related to policy). To measure the two main kinds of shocks (natural and external), proposed proxies are respectively the instability of agricultural production and the instability of the purchasing power of exports, while the (smallness of) the population size can be used as a proxy for (structural) exposure. To aggregate the various possible indicators of shocks and exposure in a composite index of structural economic vulnerability, weights can be drawn from their estimated impact on growth. Then selected issues related to the impact of vulnerability on growth are considered: "primary" instabilities (natural events, terms of trade, political troubles) are found to slow growth, more by their effect on the total factor productivity growth than on the rate of investment, to do so through "intermediate" instabilities (of the rate of investment and of the real exchange rate), and in agricultural economies through their impact at the farmer level. Besides its negative effects on growth, vulnerability is assumed to increase aid effectiveness: the more the recipient country is vulnerable the more aid contributes to growth. Implications are drawn for aid allocation and aid design.aid., growth, productivity, instabilities, resilience, exposure, shocks, Economic vulnerability

Can Low-Income Countries Adopt Counter-Cyclical Policies?

The current global recession reconfirms low-income countries? vulnerability to external shocks. The exposure is a direct result of integration into the world economy. Declines in export earnings, remittances, tourism and capital flows are some of the transmission mechanisms. The developed and middle-income countries have responded with a series of stimulus packages. More to the point, they are able to adopt counter-cyclical policies. Can low-income economies do the same? (?)Can Low-Income Countries Adopt Counter-Cyclical Policies?

On the Economic Vulnerability of Low Income Countries

This paper examines the relevance of the concept of economic vulnerability for low income countries, a topic of recent concern in several international bodies. It first proposes some conceptual clarifications and a method to build an internationally comparable indicator. Three factors of vulnerability are identified: shocks, exposure and resilience or capacity to react (the first two ones being more structural, the third one more related to policy). To measure the two main kinds of shocks (natural and external), proposed proxies are respectively the instability of agricultural production and the instability of the purchasing power of exports, while the (smallness of) the population size can be used as a proxy for (structural) exposure. To aggregate the various possible indicators of shocks and exposure in a composite index of structural economic vulnerability, weights can be drawn from their estimated impact on growth. Then selected issues related to the impact of vulnerability on growth are considered: "primary" instabilities (natural events, terms of trade, political troubles) are found to slow growth, more by their effect on the total factor productivity growth than on the rate of investment, to do so through "intermediate" instabilities (of the rate of investment and of the real exchange rate), and in agricultural economies through their impact at the farmer level. Besides its negative effects on growth, vulnerability is assumed to increase aid effectiveness: the more the recipient country is vulnerable the more aid contributes to growth. Implications are drawn for aid allocation and aid design.

Low-Income Countries' Access to Private Debt Markets

Private debt flows to developing countries surged to record levels over the period 2003-07. A few low-income countries have gained access to the international bond market but the bulk of the flows have continued to go to just a few large middle-income countries. Most low-income countries still heavily depend on concessional loans and grants from the official sector to meet their financing needs. The paper provides an overview of low-income countries' access to cross-border bank lending and bond issuance in the international market over the past few decades. It highlights some stylized facts that characterize salient features of low-income countries' experience in external borrowing from the private sector and discusses the various factors that influence governments' and corporations' decisions to seek external financing along with creditors' decisions to provide the financing. The paper concludes by assessing the prospects for low-income countries' access to private debt markets over the medium term.accounting; asset class; asymmetric information; availability of credit; average debt; balance of payments; bank lending; bank loan; bank loans; basis points; binding constraint; bond indexes