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The Fiscal State in Africa: Evidence from a century of growth

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  • Albers, Thilo N.

    (African Economic History Network)

  • Jerven, Morten

    (African Economic History Network)

  • Suesse, Marvin

    (African Economic History Network)

Abstract

Why do large differences in fiscal capacity exist between states in the Global South? We construct a comprehensive new dataset of tax and revenue collection for 46 African polities from 1900 to 2015. Descriptive analyses show that many polities in Africa have been characterized by strong growth in real tax collection. As a next step, we employ these data to test theories of fiscal capacity in a long-run panel setting, using fixed-effects and causal estimation techniques. The results show democratic institutions and interstate warfare can increase fiscal capacity, while government turnover reduces it. However, these factors are conditional on the availability of debt financing and external aid, which by themselves reduce incentives to invest in fiscal capacity. Leveraging new data on exogenous movements in commodity prices, we show that resource income does not generally lead to lower capacity. These insights add important nuance to established theories of state-building.

Suggested Citation

  • Albers, Thilo N. & Jerven, Morten & Suesse, Marvin, 2020. "The Fiscal State in Africa: Evidence from a century of growth," African Economic History Working Paper 55/2019, African Economic History Network.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:afekhi:2019_055
    DOI: https://www.aehnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/AEHN-WP-55.pdf
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    2. Ane Karoline Bak & Matilde Jeppesen & Anne Mette Kjær, 2021. "Fiscal states in sub-Saharan Africa: conceptualization and empirical trends," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-182, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Pierre Bachas & Matthew Fisher-Post & Anders Jensen & Gabriel Zucman, 2022. "Globalization and Factor Income Taxation," Working Papers halshs-03693211, HAL.
    4. Abel Gwaindepi, 2021. "Domestic revenue mobilisation in developing countries: An exploratory analysis of sub‐Saharan Africa and Latin America," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 396-421, March.
    5. Fetzer, Thiemo & Shaw, Callum & Edenhofer, Jacob, 2024. "Informational Boundaries of the State," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 697, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    6. Moore, Mick, 2021. "Glimpses of Fiscal States in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 16977, Institute of Development Studies, International Centre for Tax and Development.
    7. Thiemo Fetzer & Callum Shaw & Jacob Edenhofer, 2024. "Informational Boundaries of the State," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 282, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    8. Abrams M.E. Tagem & Oliver Morrissey, 2021. "What are the drivers of tax capacity in sub-Saharan Africa?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-161, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Africa; Fiscal Capacity; Fiscal State; Taxation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • N17 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N47 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Africa; Oceania

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