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Taxing the Good? Distortions, Misallocation, and Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

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  • Xavier Cirera
  • Roberto Fattal-Jaef
  • Hibret Maemir

Abstract

This paper uses comprehensive and comparable firm-level manufacturing censuses from four Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries to examine the extent, costs, and nature of within-industry resource misallocation between heterogeneous production units. This paper finds evidence of severe misallocation in which resources are diverted away from high-productivity firms towards low-productivity ones, although the magnitude differs across countries. Estimated aggregate productivity gains from the hypothetical equalization of marginal returns range from 30 percent in Côte d’Ivoire to 160 percent in Kenya. The magnitude of reallocation gains appears considerably lower when performing the same counterfactual exercise based on the World Bank Enterprise Surveys once the value-added shares of industries are adjusted using the census data. This suggests that linking firm-level survey data to aggregate outcomes requires census-type data or sampling methods that take the true structure of production into account.

Suggested Citation

  • Xavier Cirera & Roberto Fattal-Jaef & Hibret Maemir, 2020. "Taxing the Good? Distortions, Misallocation, and Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 34(1), pages 75-100.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:wbecrv:v:34:y:2020:i:1:p:75-100.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/wber/lhy018
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    Cited by:

    1. Da-Rocha, José-María & Restuccia, Diego & Tavares, Marina M., 2023. "Policy distortions and aggregate productivity with endogenous establishment-level productivity," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    2. De Nicola,Francesca & Nguyen,Ha Minh & Loayza,Norman V., 2020. "Productivity Loss and Misallocation of Resources in Southeast Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9483, The World Bank.
    3. Eero Mäkynen & Oskari Vähämaa, 2021. "Uncertainty, Misallocation and the Life-cycle Growth of Firms," Discussion Papers 146, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    4. Cao, Wenbin & Duan, Xiaoman & Niu, Xu, 2023. "Access to finance, bureaucracy, and capital allocation efficiency," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 125.
    5. BAH, Mamadou Mouminy, 2021. "Agglomeration Economies and Labour Misallocation in Cote d’Ivoire," MPRA Paper 109314, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Diego Restuccia, 2019. "Misallocation and aggregate productivity across time and space," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(1), pages 5-32, February.
    7. Paul, Saumik & Raju, Dhushyanth, 2021. "Barriers to Growth-Enhancing Structural Transformation: The Role of Subnational Differences in Intersectoral Productivity Gaps," IZA Discussion Papers 14407, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Andrew Kerr & Bruce McDougall, 2020. "What is a firm census in a developing country? An answer from Ghana," SALDRU Working Papers 262, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    9. World Bank Group, "undated". "Africa's Pulse, No. 18, October 2018," World Bank Publications - Reports 30455, The World Bank Group.

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