Foreign Aid and Domestic Revenue Mobilization in Conflict-aff ected Countries

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the impact of conflict on taxation, and a few articles have focused on aid effectiveness in conflict-affected countries. Both aid and conflict have been identified as major determinants of tax performance, however there is little agreement on the nature of their individual and joint effects on taxation. This study contributes to this debate by considering a sample of 123 developing countries over the period 1984 to 2014. Our findings show that aid granted during a period of conflict positively affects revenue collection, and this impact increases with technical assistance. A deeper analysis demonstrates a non-linear relationship between aid provided during conflict times and domestic revenue mobilization. The institutional environment appears to be a factor that may mitigate, and even reverse, the nature of the relationship between aid and revenue mobilization

Provincial public expenditure in China: a tale of pro-cyclicality

International audienceThis paper examines the cyclicality of provincial expenditure inChina duringthe period 1978–2013. Using panel data for analysis, it assesses whether provincialexpenditure has been pro-cyclical. Pro-cyclicality is found to be a regular feature ofprovincial fiscal policy. This pro-cyclicality occurs both in times of low and high growthrates and has markedly intensified since 1994 with the increased autonomy of provinces.The paper further finds that the pro-cyclicality bias is mitigated when financial constraintsare relaxed, the remaining political life of the governor is long, governmentefficiency is strong, corruption incidence is low, and governments are large

Volatility Widens Inequality. Could Aid and Remittances Help?

We analyse the relationship between income volatility and inequality and the conditional role played by aid and remittances. Using a panel of 142 countries for the period 1973 to 2012, we find that income volatility has an adverse impact on inequality, and that the poorest people are the most exposed to these fluctuations. However, while aid and remittances do not seem to have a clear direct impact on inequality, we uncover robust evidence which suggests that aid helps to dampen the negative effects of volatility on the distribution of income, while remittances do not.Keywords: Volatility, Inequality, Aid, and RemittancesRevised version April 201

Volatility widens inequality. Could aid and remittances help?

International audienc