This paper shows that increasing government social expenditures can make a substantive contribution to increasing household consumption in China. The paper first undertakes an empirical study of the relationship between the savings rate and social expenditures for a panel of OECD countries and...

Using data from three household surveys, we review whether growth in Mauritius was inclusive and discuss the incidence of public expenditures and taxes. Generally, Mauritius enjoys an even income distribution and low rates of poverty. Nevertheless, over the 2000s, despite overall progress, the...

The cornerstone of Chile’s impressive fiscal performance and strong fiscal system has been its structural balance rule. It has helped to insulate public spending from copper price cycles and improve the government’s net financial position. Chile should adopt a full-fledged...

The paper reviews the changing nature of intergovernmental fiscal relations between the provinces and the central government in China over the past two decades and provides an assessment of the success of previous reforms in meeting their objectives. Key existing weaknesses in the current system...

This Selected Issues paper discusses Lithuania’s efforts towards a sustainable and inclusive consolidation. Lithuania has implemented fiscal measures amounting to 17 percent of GDP during 2009–2012, about half of which were frontloaded in 2009. The report shows that...

Against the background of Mexico's persistently high degree of inequality, this paper analyzes the country's experience with pro-poor policies over the last decade. A number of important government initiatives, implemented since the mid-1990s, have aimed at improving distributional equity...