Governments often include equity considerations when determining rates for value added taxes (VAT). This paper explores the implication of current and proposed tax exemptions in South Africa from the perspective of their impact on the expenditures of the poor and on the calorie and protein...

This report shows that Mali s safety nets are insufficient to address the needs of the population and suggests ways to improve them. There is a need to devise a set of cost effective programs to expand the scope and coverage of the national safety net. Given that any reform plan must be...

The use of food aid in poverty alleviation programs has been hampered by two problems: the inability to target to touseholds in need, and the disincentive effects on agriculture. In this paper, we present econometric estimates of m Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) for households in Maputo,...

This paper is one of the few attempts to describe and analyze labor market issues relative to labor market participation and labor supply and demand for labor in rural Bangladesh at the time of the 1998 flood. It presents empirical estimates of the supply function of daily laborers and of the...

This article examines the impact of wheat transfers and cash incomes on wheat consumption and wheat markets. Using propensity score matching techniques, the MPC for wheat is on average 0.33, ranging form essentially zero for Food For Work (a programme with large transfers) to 0.51 for Food For...

This report provides an inventory of safety net programs in Burkina Faso and suggests policy measures that could increase their coverage, efficiency, and sustainability. It shows that the scope and coverage of the existing safety nets is too limited. Most interventions are small and temporary....

This report shows that Mali’s safety nets are insufficient to address the needs of the population and suggests ways to improve them. There is a need to devise a set of cost effective programs to expand the scope and coverage of the national safety net. Given that any reform plan must be...