This paper examines how providing better information to customs inspectors and monitoring their actions affects tax revenue and fraud detection in Madagascar. First, an instrumental variables strategy is used to show that transaction-specific, third-party valuation advice on a subset of...

Israeli security measures, which were increased in response to the Intifada in 2000, have imposed a major cost on the economy of the West Bank and Gaza, and are heavily undercutting its current and future developmental capacity. The closures regime - the multi-faceted system of restrictions on...

Kazakhstan’s economy has been driven by an oilboom since the discovery of large new oilfields coincided with the upturn of world oil prices after 1998. This paper uses national household expenditure survey data to examine whether Kazakhstan’s experience supports a curse or a blessing...

The international community has been increasing investment in projects that promote trade facilitation and improve logistics in the developing world, including in ports. In Africa, a key motivation for such projects has been a presumption that poor infrastructure and inefficient border control...

This paper is based on first-hand experience from Customs reforms in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and presents unpublished data on the impact of Customs reforms on revenues, trade facilitation, private sector operators and frontline Customs officials behaviors in Africa. Customs agencies are usually...

This paper examines public sector size and performance management in post-revolution Tunisia, drawing on macro-empirical, legal, and qualitative analyses. The paper first shows that public sector employment figures and the wage bill have increased significantly since the 2011 revolution, but...