This paper seeks to find empirical evidence of a link between tax simplification and corruption in tax administration. It attempts to do this by first defining "tax simplicity" as a measurable variable and exploring empirical relationships between simpler tax regimes and corruption in tax...

Rapid urbanization in India means cities face a tremendous challenge to finance and deliver theincreasing demand for basic municipal services. When compared to peers in the Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development (OECD), India performs poorly in generating revenues fromthe urban...

The goal of this paper is to understand better, at the empirical level, how public spending contributes to growth by focusing on both the level and composition of public spending, in connection to the dynamics of GDP per capita growth. It attempts to answer two specific questions: (a) What are...

A partir de los resultados de la Iniciativa de Aprendizaje Mundial de Shanghai, la obra Reduccion de la pobreza a escala mundial intenta contribuir al extenso conocimiento actual sobre reduccion de la pobreza y la eficacia de la ayuda. El objetivo es instruir a los profesionales del desarrollo...

This paper considers the potential for improvements in forestry revenue management to complement other efforts toward sustainable forest management and to strengthen domestic resource mobilization. It describes forestry management as an extreme version of a classic principal-agent problem, which...

There is little empirical evidence to support the claim that public spending improves education and health indicators. This paper uses cross-sectional data for 50 developing and transition countries to show that expenditure allocations within the two social sectors improve both access to and...

This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the likely social impact of the economic crisis and the reform programs in three Asian countries—Indonesia, Korea, and Thailand. The focus is on likely changes in real consumption expenditures arising from higher inflation and increases in...

This paper estimates the impact of public spending on the poor''s health status in over 70 countries. It provides evidence that the poor have significantly worse health status than the rich and that they are more favorably affected by public spending on health care. An important new result is...

This note brings together current thinking among global and regional teams on governance and institutional approaches to dealing with COVID-19. With a focus on tax policy and revenue administrations, it presents governance and institutional reforms that could support revenue administration...

The objective of this working paper is to provide guidance on the dilemma that governments are facing because of the economic crisis triggered by COVID-19. Measures adopted by governments during the contention phase to alleviate cash flow pressures on taxpayers require budget expenditures that...