This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Benefit incidence analysis in developing countries

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Selden, Thomas M.
Wasylenko, Michael J.

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

As interesting and difficult as it is to allocate tax burdens to individuals, the profession knows even less about allocating benefits. The authors survey the literature on benefit incidence since DeWulf's (1975) review, focusing on the methodology and results of benefit incidence analysis in developing countries. Research in this area faces all the general-equilibrium difficulties faced by tax incidence analysis as well as the difficult task of measuring benefits from publicly provided goods and services. Despite the inherent pitfalls of this methodology, the authors believe that benefit incidence analysis can provide an important perspective on the budget by combining data on household use with data on project costs. In particular, benefit incidence analyses can help illuminate the distributional impacts of proposed reallocations of government resources among projects. The value of such research is especially high considering the scarcity of recent research in this area. The authors review the existing methodology, survey the available results, and point out areas in which further research might have large payoffs. They also make specific methodological suggestions that might help ensure that future research is as useful for policymakers as possible. For example: Aggregate results based on the zero-government counterfactual rely on strong assumptions about fixed relative prices and incomes, government efficiency, and the relationship between marginal and total benefits. And those studies are often not designed to identify which types of public services benefit the poor. Researchers should focus more on providing benefit incidence studies on specific government functions or programs that can help policymakers reach conclusions about proposed reallocations of resources among government programs. Benefit incidence should be assigned to households based on household survey information on usage rather than on ad hoc assumptions that assign benefits based on income or the number of members in the household. Improved annual cost measures for services need to be developed, particulary for capital inputs. Researchers should group households by deciles and whenever possible should consider other groupings based on household income adjusted for household composition, age, location, and other relevant socioeconomic variables. Careful attention to life-cycle benefits, benefit shifting, rent-seeking, out-of-pocket costs, displacement of private sector efforts, average versus marginal incidence, and several other issues can significantly increase the value of benefit incidence analysis to policymakers.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/1992/11/01/000009265_3961003154857/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 1015.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: 30 Nov 1992
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1015

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433
Email:
Web page: http://www.worldbank.org/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Roula I. Yazigi).

Related research
Keywords: Economic Theory&Research; Environmental Economics&Policies; Poverty Assessment; Health Economics&Finance; Banks&Banking Reform;

Other versions of this item:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. De Wulf, Luc, 1981. "Incidence of Budgetary Outlays: Where Do We Go from Here?," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 36(1), pages 55-76.
  2. Pechman, Joseph A, 1972. "Note on the Intergenerational Transfer of Public Higher-Education Benefits," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(3), pages S256-59, Part II, . [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Le Grand, Julian, 1982. "The Distribution of Public Expenditure on Education," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 49(193), pages 63-68, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. van de Walle, Dominique, 1992. "The distribution of the benefits from social services in Indonesia, 1978-87," Policy Research Working Paper Series 871, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  5. Shah, Anwar & Whalley, John, 1991. "Tax Incidence Analysis of Developing Countries: An Alternative View," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 535-52, September.
  6. Follain, James R. & Jimenez, Emmanuel, 1985. "Estimating the demand for housing characteristics: A survey and critique," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 77-107, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Ross, T.W., 1988. "On The Relative Efficiency Of Cash Transfers And Subsidies," Papers e-88-20, Stanford - Hoover Institution.
    Other versions:
  8. Edgar O. Olsen & Kathy A. York, 1984. "The Effect of Different Measures of Benefit on Estimates of the Distributive Consequences of Government Programs," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Transfers in the United States, pages 177-198 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  9. Besley, Timothy J & Kanbur, S M Ravi, 1988. "Food Subsidies and Poverty Alleviation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(392), pages 701-19, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Timothy Smeeding, 1984. "Approaches to Measuring and Valuing In-Kind Subsidies and the Distribution of Their Benefits," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Transfers in the United States, pages 139-176 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  11. Berhman, J.R. & Deolaikar, A.B., 1990. "The Poor And The Social Sectors During A Period Of Macroeconomic Adjustment: Empirical Evidence For Jamaica," Department of Economics Working Papers 152, Department of Economics, Williams College.
  12. Ravallion, Martin & Dearden, Lorraine, 1988. "Social Security in a "Moral Economy": An Empirical Analysis for Java," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(1), pages 36-44, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Alderman, Harold, 1987. "Allocation of goods through non-price mechanisms : Evidence on distribution by willingness to wait," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 105-124, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Denzau, Arthur T & Mackay, Robert J, 1976. "Benefit Shares and Majority Voting," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(1), pages 69-76, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Piggott, John & Whalley, John, 1987. "Interpreting Net Fiscal Incidence Calculations," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(4), pages 685-94, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Jimenez, Emmanuel, 1986. "The Public Subsidization of Education and Health in Developing Countries: A Review of Equity and Efficiency," World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 111-29, January.
  17. Gertler, P. & Glewwe, P., 1989. "The Willingness To Pay For Education In Developing Countries," Papers 54, World Bank - Living Standards Measurement.
  18. Kanemoto, Yoshitsugu & Nakamura, Ryohei, 1986. "A new approach to the estimation of structural equations in hedonic models," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 218-233, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Thomas W. Hertel, 1999. "Applied General Equilibrium Analysis of Agricultural and Resource Policies," GTAP Working Papers 297, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  20. Mohammad, Sharif & Whalley, John, 1984. "Rent Seeking in India: Its Costs and Policy Significance," Kyklos, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(3), pages 387-413.
  21. Kakwani, Nanak C, 1977. "Applications of Lorenz Curves in Economic Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(3), pages 719-27, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Le Grand, Julian, 1978. "The Distribution of Public Expenditure: The Case of Health Care," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 45(178), pages 125-42, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Hammes, David L & Wills, Douglas T, 1987. "Public Debt, Interest and Fiscal Incidence," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(4), pages 439-42, December.
  24. Aaron, Henry & McGuire, Martin, 1970. "Public Goods and Income Distribution," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 38(6), pages 907-20, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Hochman, Harold M & Rodgers, James D, 1969. "Pareto Optimal Redistribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(4), pages 542-57, Part I Se. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  26. Andreoni, James, 1990. "Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(401), pages 464-77, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  27. Davies, James B & St-Hilaire, France & Whalley, John, 1984. "Some Calculations of Lifetime Tax Incidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 633-49, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  28. Yinger, John, 1982. "Capitalization and the Theory of Local Public Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(5), pages 917-43, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  29. Chaudry-Shah, Anwar, 1988. " Capitalization and the Theory of Local Public Finance: An Interpretive Essay," Journal of Economic Surveys, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 2(3), pages 209-43.
  30. Kanemoto, Yoshitsugu, 1988. "Hedonic Prices and the Benefits of Public Projects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(4), pages 981-89, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  31. Whittington, Dale & Lauria, Donald T. & Xinming Mu, 1989. "Paying for urban services : a study of water vending and willingness to pay for water in Onitsha, Nigeria," Policy Research Working Paper Series 363, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  32. Suits, Daniel B, 1977. "Measurement of Tax Progressivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(4), pages 747-52, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  33. Allen, Franklin, 1982. "Optimal linear income taxation with general equilibrium effects on wages," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 135-143, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  34. Braverman, Avishay & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1986. "Landlords, tenants and technological innovations," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 313-332, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Sakellariou, Chris & Patrinos, Harry Anthony, 2004. "Incidence analysis of public support to the private education sector in Cote d'Ivoire," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3231, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  2. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2001. "The Impact of Budgets on the Poor: Tax and Benefit," International Studies Program Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0110, International Studies Program, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University. [Downloadable!]
  3. Essama-Nssah, B., 2008. "Assessing the redistributive effect of fiscal policy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4592, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  4. van de Walle, Dominique, 1995. "Public spending and the poor : what we know, what we need to know," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1476, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  5. Bernadette Kamgnia Dia & Simon Leunkeu Wangun & Christophe Tatsinkou & Josephine Afor, 2008. "Bénéfices acquis et ciblage des pauvres dans les dépenses publiques de santé et d'éducation au Cameroun," Cahiers de recherche PMMA 2008-08, PEP-PMMA. [Downloadable!]
  6. Kappel, Robert & Lay, Jann & Steiner, Susan, 2005. "Uganda : no more pro-poor growth?," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Kiel 2005 31, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. Gragnolati, Michele & Marini, Alessandra, 2003. "Health and poverty in Guatemala," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2966, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  8. van de Walle, Dominique, 1992. "The distribution of the benefits from social services in Indonesia, 1978-87," Policy Research Working Paper Series 871, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  9. Lanjouw, Peter & Ravallion, Martin, 1998. "Benefit incidence and the timing of program capture," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1956, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? To receive notification of recent additions to the database, subscribe to the free NEP reports.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-26.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.