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Working Paper
Socioeconomic inequality in Viet NamThis study provides an introduction to major discussions and core findings on inequalities in Viet Nam, drawing on a review of recent research, consideration of how inequality is discussed in legal documents, and an analysis of inequality using...
Working Paper
Estimating the value-added tax gap in TanzaniaThis study measures the VAT compliance gap for small and medium-sized entities in Tanzania. Specifically, the study measures the under-reporting component of the VAT compliance gap. This study uses VAT declaration and audit data to conduct a bottom...
Journal Article
Economic sanctions and trade flows in the neighborhoodWe investigate the effect of economic sanctions on trade flows in countries sharing a border with sanctioned states. According to trade models, sanctions are expected to reduce trade flows, as they disrupt established trading routes and economic...
Working Paper
Redefining tax progressivity in developing countriesRecent evidence from developing countries shows that the bottom of the income distribution pays more taxes relative to their income than the top 1%, highlighting a lack of tax progressivity in these societies. Current measures of tax progressivity...
Blog
Does the Kuznets Curve still matter 70 years on? Yes! Here’s whySeventy years ago, Simon Kuznets was immortalised by his finding that inequality rises first and then falls later—the hypothesis widely known as the...
Technical Note
The Uganda Revenue Authority presumptive tax dataThis technical note describes the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) presumptive tax returns data covering financial years from 2015/16 to 2022/23. The data contains 21 variables, including information on taxpayers’ characteristics, turnover, and payable...
Journal Article
A policy for the jobless youth in South AfricaThis paper uses survey and tax administrative data to analyse the effects of a sizeable employer-borne payroll tax credit for young, low-wage workers in South Africa. We find fairly limited impacts of the wage subsidy on the employment of young, low...
Blog
Are China and India highly unequal countries?‘The Number of Countries with High Inequality’ is the World Bank’s newest inequality indicator, one which it says will guide work on its agenda to...
Working Paper
What did they say? Respondent identity, question framing, and the measurement of employmentDrawing from two labour market experiments in rural India, we offer insights on the influence of survey design on the measurement of employment. The first experiment contrasts self-reported estimates of employment with proxy-reported estimates from...
Blog
Can insurance help African pastoralists escape poverty traps in the face of climate change?Drought is a leading cause of persistent poverty and humanitarian crises among pastoralists in East Africa. In a new book in the UNU-WIDER and...
Blog
Sub-Saharan Africa faces an alarming debt burden that could hinder progress on sustainable development goals
Rising public debt in Africa, exacerbated by multiple shocks and limited fiscal space, poses a significant challenge to the region’s development. Half...
Journal Article
COVID-19 pandemic, household welfare and diversification strategies of smallholder farmers in UgandaAgricultural activities in many sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries are subject to various risk factors that the COVID-19 compounds. Earlier studies on the effect of COVID-19 on smallholders neglect the issue of comparison with non-farm households...
Blog
Understanding Mozambique’s social protection system in the context of recurring shocks – perspectives from the fieldEffective social protection programmes that meet local needs can significantly enhance wellbeing and break the cycle of structural poverty among the...
Journal Article
The evolution of inequality in Mozambique 1996/97–2019/20After decades of war, Mozambique experienced sustained economic growth and poverty reduction from the mid-1990s. However, these positive dynamics started to revert from 2015. Meanwhile, inequality stagnated in the period 1996/97–2008/09, before...
Blog
South Africa’s emergency social grant proves to be a critical tool in the fight against poverty — it should be expandedSouth Africa's unemployment rate stands at a staggering 32.1%—one of the highest in the world. Coupled with an alarming poverty rate, where nearly...
Working Paper
Concealed costs: illicit economies and the erosion of the local tax base in ColombiaTax revenues are fundamental to state-building and development, particularly in the aftermath of conflict. Through the lens of the recent post-conflict experience of Colombia, this paper explores the challenges of increasing tax revenues amid...
Working Paper
Spatial consumption inequality in MozambiqueIn this paper, I show that the trend in spatial inequality in Mozambique almost entirely explains the outstanding surge in inequality in the country over the past decade, as well as its decline immediately after the pandemic, in contrast to its...
Working Paper
Wait no more: how the administration of VAT refunds impacts firm behaviourRefunds are an essential feature of well-functioning VAT systems and take up a sizeable portion of government spending. In South Africa, refunds amount to 50 percent of gross VAT collection, representing a substantial transfer from the government to...
Journal Article
Differential bunching impacts across the income distribution: evidence from tax administrative dataWe investigate the behavioural responses of individual taxpayers to changes in marginal personal income tax rates applying empirical bunching methodology to tax administrative data from Zambia over the period from 2014 to 2021. We find evidence for...