SOUTHMOD presented at the ATAF Research webinar series

African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) and the African Tax Research Network (ATRN) in conjunction with the University of Pretoria (UP) and the University of Witwatersrand (WITS) are organizing a Research webinar series on 25-26 November 2020. The topic of the event is Government Fiscal Measures during and after an Economic Crisis: Africa’s Response to the impact of COVID-19. The event will be organized in English and in French.

The online event presents an opportunity for academics, researchers, tax administrators, students, tax practitioners, consultants and decision-makers on fiscal and tax policy in Africa to share and discuss fiscal policy measures to counter effects of crises like COVID-19.

UNU-WIDER Research Associate Jesse Lastunen and Research Fellow Pia Rattenhuber will be participating in the event.

Jesse Lastunen will present ongoing research on COVID-19 undertaken by the SOUTHMOD group at UNU-WIDER in collaboration with SASPRI and the University of Essex. His presentation is titled 'To the rescue? The mitigating role of tax and benefit rescue packages for poverty and inequality in Africa amid the COVID-19 pandemic'.

Pia Rattenhuber will join the conference as a discussant on a panel that comments on the presented research and delves into the general theme of the webinar, policy measures during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The presentations are part of the UNU-WIDER project SOUTHMOD - simulating tax and benefit policies for development. Tax-benefit microsimulation models provide knowledge for better policy-making and inclusive development. With the models the effects of different policy scenarios on poverty, inequality, and government revenues can be analysed and compared.