BOOKS AND REPORTS
Realizing the Promise of (Partial) Decentralization
Shanta Devarajan, Stuti Khemani, September 2023
A well-established argument, pioneered by Musgrave (1959) and Oates (1972), states that devolving responsibility to sub-national governments leads to better economic and governance outcomes. However, the empirical evidence on this has been mixed. In this chapter, Development Research Group researcher Stuti Khemani identifies two factors missing from this analysis on the impact of decentralisation. This chapter appears in the book "Decentralised Governance: Crafting Effective Democracies Around the World".
Strengthening Personal Income Taxation in Senegal - Case Study
Pierre Bachas, Leo Czajka, Aissatou Diallo, Justine Knebelmann, Anaelle Toure, June 2023
As part of its medium-term revenue strategy, Senegal’s Finance and Budget Ministry plans to raise its tax-to-GDP ratio to 20 percent. The tax administration (Direction Générale des Impôts et Domaines, DGID) aims to accomplish this by broadening the tax base and equitably raising tax compliance under the YAATAL project. Focusing on the top of the distribution, this project uses new administrative tax data to describe the current state of the personal income tax (PIT) in Senegal and possible ways it can be improved.
The Economics of Water Scarcity in The Midde East and North Africa: Institutional Solutions
Dominick de Waal, Stuti Khemani, Andrea Barone, Edoardo Borgomeo, Amal Talbi, Rajesh Advani, Sally Zgheib, Mili Varughese, Mohamad Hamid, Luke Gates, Elvira Broeks Motta, April 2023
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is facing an acute lack of water for life and livelihoods. Despite significant infrastructure investments over decades, countries in the region are grappling with unprecedented, ever-worsening water scarcity due to population growth, climate change and socioeconomic development. The Economics of Water Scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa: Institutional Solutions confronts the persistence and severity of water scarcity in MENA. The report draws on the tools of public economics to address two crucial challenges facing states in MENA: lack of legitimacy and trust.
Going Viral: COVID-19 and the Accelerated Transformation of Jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean
Guillermo Beylis, Roberto Fattal Jaef, Michael Morris, Ashwini Rekha Sebastian, and Rishabh Sinha, Washington, DC: World Bank, September 2020
This book focuses on three important pre-pandemic trends observed in the labor market in the region—premature deindustrialization, servicification of the economy, and task automation—that have been accelerated by the crisis.
The Rise of Domestic Capital Markets for Corporate Financing
Facundo Abraham, Juan J. Cortina, and Sergio L. Schmukler, Washington, DC: World Bank, June 2019
The case of East Asia shows that domestic markets have been a key driver of the observed trends in capital market financing since the early 2000s.
Making Politics Work for Development: Harnessing Transparency and Citizen Engagement
Stuti Khemani, Ernesto Dal Bó, Claudio Ferraz, Frederico Finan, Corinne Stephenson, Adesinaola Odugbemi, Dikshya Thapa, and Scott Abrahams, Policy Research Report, Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016
The forces of transparency and citizen political engagement are on the rise, and together hold the potential to make politics work for rather than against economic development.
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