IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tul/wpaper/1311.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Social Spending, Taxes and Income Redistribution in Paraguay

Author

Listed:
  • Sean Higgins

    () (Department of Economics, Tulane University)

  • Nora Lustig

    () (Department of Economics, Tulane University)

  • Julio Ramirez

    () (CADEP (Centro de Analisis y Difusion de la Economia Paraguaya))

  • Billy Swanson

    () (Department of Economics, University of California Davis)

Abstract

How much redistribution does Paraguay accomplish through social spending and taxes? How progressive are revenue collection and social spending? Using a standard fiscal incidence analysis, we quantify the reduction in inequality and poverty in Paraguay across income concepts, and contextualize these results by placing Paraguay in comparative perspective with other Latin American countries. Paraguay achieves a relatively small reduction in inequality, even when in-kind education and health benefits are taken into account. Direct taxes are progressive, indirect taxes are regressive, and total taxes are regressive. Social spending is progressive in relative terms, but less so than in any of the other countries analyzed.

Suggested Citation

  • Sean Higgins & Nora Lustig & Julio Ramirez & Billy Swanson, 2013. "Social Spending, Taxes and Income Redistribution in Paraguay," Working Papers 1311, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tul:wpaper:1311
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.tulane.edu/RePEc/pdf/tul1311.pdf
    File Function: First Version, February 2013
    Download Restriction: no

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marisa Bucheli & Nora Lustig & Máximo Rossi & Florencia Amábile, 2012. "Social Spending, Taxes and Income Redistribution in Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1212, Department of Economics - dECON.
    2. Pedro H. G. F. de Souza & Rafael G. Osorio & Sergei S. O. Soares, 2011. "Uma Metodologia Para Simular o Programa Bolsa Família," Discussion Papers 1654, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA.
    3. Miguel Jaramillo, 2014. "The Incidence of Social Spending and Taxes in Peru," Public Finance Review, , vol. 42(3), pages 391-412, May.
    4. Nora Lustig & Carola Pessino, 2012. "Social Spending and Income Redistribution in Argentina During the 2000s: the Rising Role of Noncontributory Pensions," Working Papers 1221, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    5. Sean Higgins & Claudiney Pereira, 2014. "The Effects of Brazil’s Taxation and Social Spending on the Distribution of Household Income," Public Finance Review, , vol. 42(3), pages 346-367, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    More about this item

    Keywords

    inequality; poverty; Paraguay; social spending; taxes;

    JEL classification:

    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tul:wpaper:1311. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Valentina Martinez Pabon). General contact details of provider: http://edirc.repec.org/data/detulus.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.