This paper describes the new policy on urban development and housing which the Malian government launched after its transition to democracy in 1991 and discusses its effectiveness in reaching low-income groups in Bamako. After outlining Bamako’s growth and housing situation, and the 1991 political transition, the paper describes the new housing policy, formally adopted in 1995. The policy’s sta...

We ask whether attitudes toward government play a causal role in the evasion of U.S. personal income taxes. We first use individual-level survey data to demonstrate a link between sharing the party of the president and trust in the administration generally and opinions on taxation and spending policy, more specifically. Next, we move to the county level, and measure tax behavior as elections, d...

Variation in school attributes, proximity, and fees across neighborhoods is used to identify factors which affect whether poor households send their children to government school, private school, or no school. Analysis shows that even the poorest households use private schools extensively, and that utilization increases with income. Lowering private school fees or distance or raising measured q...

The US government accumulated a large amount of debt from WWII. The government debt-to-GDP ratio in the US peaked at 108% in 1946. This ratio dropped dramatically in the following two decades, to 35% in 1966. Simultaneously, the US experienced a massive baby boom. This paper studies the relationship between these two phenomena in a modified version of the Barro-Becker model. In the model, the g...

This paper has two parts. The first part examines the regional health expenditure inequality in China by testing two hypotheses on health expenditure convergence. Cross-section regressions and cluster analysis are used to study the health expenditure convergence and to identify convergence clusters. We find no single nationwide convergence, only convergence by cluster. In the second part of the...

This paper studies how income tax rates are determined and how they are related to government corruption in the form of fund capture. A model is presented where rich voters can block redistribution by buying the votes of some poor voters. In equilibrium there is only limited redistribution and income tax rates are a negative function of government corruption. When rich voters can bribe the gove...

In July 2000, the Taipei City Government launched an anti-poverty program, Taipei Family Development Accounts, which drew heavily on Sherraden’s asset-based welfare theory, and was to provide matched savings accounts for low-income families in the City. This paper presents the “income to assets” policy shift process and a research summary on the participants to date.

We ask whether attitudes toward government play a causal role in the evasion of U.S. personal income taxes. We first use individual-level survey data to demonstrate a link between sharing the party of the president and trust in the administration generally and opinions on taxation and spending policy, more specifically. Next, we move to the county level, and measure tax behavior as elections, d...

We ask whether attitudes toward government play a causal role in the evasion of U.S. personal income taxes. We first use individual-level survey data to demonstrate a link between sharing the party of the president and trust in the administration generally and opinions on taxation and spending policy, more specifically. Next, we move to the county level, and measure tax behavior as elections, d...

We ask whether attitudes toward government play a causal role in the evasion of U.S. personal income taxes. We first use individual-level survey data to demonstrate a link between sharing the party of the president and trust in the administration generally and opinions on taxation and spending policy, more specifically. Next, we move to the county level, and measure tax behavior as elections, d...