Most new EU member states (NMS) need further fiscal adjustment to support economic growth and macroeconomic stability. In this context, achieving income convergence with other EU members rests more with maintaining productivity growth, attracting foreign savings, and improving investment...

Using panel data from the Argentine Permanent Household Survey, this paper analyzes which households were more vulnerable to the Argentine macroeconomic crisis during 1999-2002. Results suggest that the impact of the crisis was not uniform across households, which differed in their ability to...

This paper analyzes Central America's track record on inequality, poverty, and quality of fiscal adjustment in relation to economic growth; health and education outcomes; adequacy of social safety nets; and governance. It then assesses the degree to which the track record can be traced to...

Este resumen ejecutivo presenta el argumento a favor del uso de la tributación como un instrumento de desarrollo más que como una simple fuente de ingresos. También hace un recorrido sobre algunas áreas problemáticas de los sistemas tributarios, entre ellas, la evasión fiscal, estructuras...

The drivers of educational attainment have been the subject of much research both in the developed and the developing world. Yet, nothing is known about the effect of birth registration on schooling outcomes. Birth registration is not only a fundamental human right but also a requirement to...

Birth registration is essential to guarantee a child's right to an identity. Without proper documentation of their identity, children have limited access to health, education and social assistance, laying the foundation for lifelong exclusion. Geographic distance to registration facilities is...

Crime has tangible economic costs. It also has less understood and likely sizable intangible costs. In particular, widespread crime has the potential to weaken trust between citizens and institutions, undermine government reform efforts, and become an obstacle to development. Yet, the impact of...

An influential body of scholarship argues that corruption behaves as a selffulfilling prophecy. The idea of this work is that levels of corruption emerge endogenously as a result of a society-wide coordination game in which ther individual returns to corrupt behavior are a function of how...

Las instituciones fiscales del mañana, título inaugural de la serie Instituciones para la gente, aborda temas de gestión pública clave para el desarrollo económico de América Latina y el Caribe. Presenta los desafíos que enfrentan los países de la región para consolidar instituciones...

There are now increasing concerns about the need to upgrade public infrastructure, improve the delivery of public services, and explore new options for partnering with the private sector. This book looks at ways of strengthening the efficiency of public investment and managing the fiscal risks...