Assessing the relationship between democracy and domestic taxes in developing countries

To what extent differences across developing countries in their domestic tax mobilization can be explained, in addition to the traditional determinants, by political economy factors and particularly by the political regime? Using a panel of 66 developing countries over the period 1990-2005, this paper provides econometric evidence that democracy matters for achieving higher domestic tax revenues which are much needed to finance public goods. It is especially the level of constraints on the executive which is of importance to counter the government's propensity to cave in for special interests and to be insufficiently welfare minded. We found that high levels of democracy are specifically needed in natural resource rich countries to make natural resource rents contribute to higher domestic tax revenues and no longer be an impediment to a sustained tax system.Tax Revenues;democracy;developing countries

The effects of inequality on growth: a survey of the theoretical and empirical literature

Basically, the extensive theoretical and empirical literature on the interactions between growth/development and distribution can be divided into two main approaches. The first one examines the impact of economic development on income distribution in a long run perspective. The second one focuses on the inverse causality between inequality and growth. This paper aims at reviewing this second view about the effects of initial inequality of income and wealth on future growth rate. The theoretical literature suggests several channels through which inequality might be harmful for growth, namely three economic explanations (the channel of the capital market imperfections, the approach of endogenous fertility, the argument relating to the domestic market size) and two politico-economic arguments (the approach of endogenous fiscal policy and the political instability channel). The following conclusions can be drawn from our survey of the empirical studies regarding the relationship between inequality and growth: first, only the endogenous fertility approach and the explanation based on political instability receive convincing support from the data. Second, initial inequality of assets has a negative and significant effect on subsequent growth. As a result, wealth redistribution is likely to enhance future growth.Inequality; Growth

The Political Economy Determinants of Domestic Tax Mobilization in Developing Countries

To what extent differences across developing countries in their domestic tax mobilization can be explained, in addition to the traditional determinants, by political economy factors and particularly by the political regime? Using a panel of 78 developing countries over the period 1990-2005, this paper provides econometric evidence that democracy matters for achieving higher domestic tax revenues which are much needed to finance public goods. It is especially the level of constraints on the executive which is of importance to counter the government's propensity to cave in for special interests and to be insufficiently welfare minded. We found that high levels of democracy are specifically needed in natural resource rich countries to make natural resource rents contribute to higher domestic tax revenues and no longer be an impediment to a sustained tax system. --Revenue Performance,Democracy,Developing Countries

On the number of points in a lattice polytope

In this article we will show that for every natural $d$ and $n>1$ there exists a natural number $t$ such that for every $d$-dimensional simplicial complex $\mathcal{T}$ with vertices in $\mathbb{Z}^d$, the number of lattice points in the $t^{\mathrm{th}}$ dilate of $\mathcal{T}$ is exactly $\chi(\mathcal{T})$ modulo $n$, where $\chi(\mathcal{T})$ is the Euler characteristic of $\mathcal{T}$.Comment: 3 page

Commodity price volatility and Tax revenues: Evidence from developing countries

The recent boom and bust in commodity prices has renewed the policymakers’ interest in three complementary issues: i) characteristics and determinants of commodity price instability, ii) its macroeconomic effects and, iii) the optimal policy responses to this instability. This work falls within the scope of studies dedicated to the macroeconomic effects of commodity price instability, but focuses on the impact on public finance, while existing works were concentrated on growth. This paper also differs from the few previous studies on two aspects. First, we test the impact of commodity price volatility rather than focusing only on price levels. Second, we use disaggregated data on tax revenues (income tax, consumption tax and international trade tax) and on commodity prices (agricultural products, minerals and energy) in order to identify transmission channels between world prices and public finance variables. Our empirical analysis is carried out on 90 developing countries over 1980-2008. We compute an index which measures the volatility of the international price of 41 commodities in the sectors of agriculture, minerals and energy. We find robust evidence that tax revenues in developing countries increase with the rise of commodity prices but that they are hurt by the volatility of these prices. More specifically, price short-run volatility of imported commodities hurts tax revenues through trade and consumption taxes, while price medium-run volatility of export hurts tax revenues through both indirect and direct taxes. These findings point at the detrimental effect of commodity price volatility on developing countries public finances and highlight further the importance of finding ways to limit this price volatility and to implement policy measures to mitigate its adverse effects.Price Volatility, Primary Commodities, Tax Revenues, Developing economies.

Does VAT reduce the instability of tax revenues?

In this study, we examine whether or not the adoption of value-added tax (VAT) in developing countries is an effective way of stabilising tax revenues. Using a large panel of 103 developing countries observed over 1980-2008 and several alternative estimation methods in order to deal with the self-selection bias and the endogeneity issue inherent in VAT adoption, we found robust evidence that the presence of VAT leads to significantly lower tax revenue instability. On average, countries with VAT experience 40-50% less tax revenue instability than countries which do not have a VAT system. These effects decrease with the level of economic development and the openness of trade.Tax Instability, Value Added Tax, Macroeconomic Fluctuations

Tax Revenue Instability in Sub-Saharan Africa: Consequences and Remedies

This paper focuses on the sources and consequences of the instability of tax revenue in Sub-Saharan African countries. We take advantage of a unique and extraordinarily rich dataset on the composition of tax revenues for a large number of countries. Using panel data for 39 countries observed over the period 1980-2005, our results are threefold. Firstly, the instability of government tax revenue leads to an instability of both the public investment and government consumption, and finally, reduces the level of public investment. Secondly, foreign aid inflows appear to be an effective insurance mechanism against the instability of tax revenue by lowering the sensitivity of public investment with respect to tax revenue shocks. Finally, the reliance on domestic indirect taxation-based systems seems more stabilizing than the dependency on trade tax revenue.Tax Instability, Tax Composition, public spending, foreign aid, Sub-Saharan Africa

Tax Revenue Instability in Sub-Saharan Africa: Consequences and Remedies

This paper focuses on the sources and consequences of the instability of tax revenue in Sub-Saharan African countries. We take advantage of a unique and extraordinarily rich dataset on the composition of tax revenues for a large number of countries. Using panel data for 39 countries observed over the period 1980-2005, our results are threefold. Firstly, the instability of government tax revenue leads to an instability of both the public investment and government consumption, and finally, reduces the level of public investment. Secondly, foreign aid inflows appear to be an effective insurance mechanism against the instability of tax revenue by lowering the sensitivity of public investment with respect to tax revenue shocks. Finally, the reliance on domestic indirect taxation-based systems seems more stabilizing than the dependency on trade tax revenue.Tax Instability;Tax Composition;public spending;foreign aid;Sub-Saharan Africa

Mobility and Cooperation: On the Run

In public goods experiments where subjects may change groups, we observe a continual flight of the more cooperative subjects away from the less cooperative ones. The less cooperative subjects attempt to enter cooperative groups in order to free-ride on their contributions. Lorsque les sujets peuvent changer de groupes dans les expériences sur les contributions volontaires aux biens publics, nous observons que les sujets plus coopératifs délaissent les sujets moins coopératifs. De plus, ces derniers essaient de joindre les groupes coopératifs pour profiter comme resquilleurs de leurs contributions.Public goods, Tiebout hypothesis, migration, experimental economics, Biens publics, hypothèse de Tiebout, migration, économie expérimentale