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Dominance Testing of Social Sector Expenditures and Taxes in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Mr. David E. Sahn
  • Mr. Stephen D. Younger

Abstract

This paper examines the progressivity of social sector expenditures and taxes in eight sub-Saharan African countries. It uses dominance tests to determine whether health and education expenditures redistribute resources to the poor. The paper finds that social services are poorly targeted. Among the services examined, primary education tends to be most progressive, and university education is least progressive. The paper finds that many taxes are progressive as well as efficient, including some broad-based taxes such as the VAT and wage taxation. Taxes on kerosene and exports appear to be the only examples of regressive taxes.

Suggested Citation

  • Mr. David E. Sahn & Mr. Stephen D. Younger, 1999. "Dominance Testing of Social Sector Expenditures and Taxes in Africa," IMF Working Papers 1999/172, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:1999/172
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ms. Sònia Muñoz & Stanley Sang-Wook Cho, 2003. "Social Impact of a Tax Reform: The Case of Ethiopia," IMF Working Papers 2003/232, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Ssewanyana, Sarah N. & Okidi, John A., 2008. "A microsimulation of the Uganda tax system (UGATAX) and the poor from 1999 to 2003," Research Series 54940, Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC).
    3. David E. Sahn & Stephen D. Younger, 2000. "Expenditure incidence in Africa: microeconomic evidence," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 21(3), pages 329-347, September.
    4. Ajitava Raychaudhuri & Sudip Kumar Sinha & Poulomi Roy, 2007. "Is the Value Added Tax Reform in India Poverty-Improving? An Analysis of Data from Two Major States," Working Papers PMMA 2007-18, PEP-PMMA.
    5. Bigsten , Arne & Levin, Jörgen, 2000. "Growth, Income Distribution, and Poverty: A Review," Working Papers in Economics 32, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    6. World Bank Group, 2015. "Governance and Finance Analysis of the Basic Education Sector in Nigeria," World Bank Publications - Reports 23683, The World Bank Group.
    7. Mr. Erwin H Tiongson & Mr. Hamid R Davoodi & Sawitree S. Asawanuchit, 2003. "How Useful Are Benefit Incidence Analyses of Public Education and Health Spending," IMF Working Papers 2003/227, International Monetary Fund.
    8. Uzochukwu Amakom, 2016. "Nigeria’s Government Spending on Basic Education and Healthcare in the Last Decade: What has Changed After Reforms?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 1085-1102, July.
    9. John Ataguba, 2012. "Alcohol policy and taxation in South Africa," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 65-76, January.
    10. Arne Bigsten & Jörgen Levin, 2001. "Growth, Income Distribution, and Poverty," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2001-129, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Ssewanyana, Sarah N., 2009. "Gender and incidence of indirect taxation: Evidence from Uganda," Research Series 54939, Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC).
    12. World Bank Group, 2015. "Public Expenditure Review of the Education Sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo," World Bank Publications - Reports 22932, The World Bank Group.
    13. Stephen D. Younger & Flora Myamba & Kenneth Mdadila, 2016. "Fiscal Incidence in Tanzania," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 36, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    14. Jeni Klugman, 2007. "Ethiopia : Explaining Food Price Inflation," World Bank Publications - Reports 19539, The World Bank Group.

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