1 Prabhat Jha ([email protected]), Centre for Global Health Research, St Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Canada, 2 University of Illinois, Chicago, US, 3 Propel Centre for Population Health Impact, University of Waterloo, Canada, 4 American Cancer Society, Atlanta, US, 5 National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, 6 Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India...

In this paper, we investigate a dual class of bi-polarization indices, namely rank-dependent bipolarization indices. We show that these indices may be characterized with the generalized positional transfer sensitivity property. We find necessary and sufficient conditions in order to identify bipolarization-reducing marginal tax reforms. Precisely, we propose inverse positional dominance criteri...

Many municipal governments in developing countries are experiencing serious difficulties in dealing with the rapid growth of population in cities. Catalysed through processes of globalisation, the growth of cities, especially the so-called mega-cities , has not been matched by investments in infrastructure like roads and power due to the inability of local government organizations to collect ad...

This paper investigates the determinants of political support for the privatization of education in the UK. The electorate is assumed to apply cost-benefit calculations, depending on their circumstances; a set of criteria for evaluating educational reforms is linked to individual voters' characteristics. It is then possible to identify which voters would oppose or advocate educational reforms s...

We evaluate the effect of a 2003 reform in the Spanish income tax on fertility and the employment of mothers with small children. The reform introduced a tax credit for working mothers with children under the age of three, while also increasing child deductions for all households with children. Theoretically, given the interplay of these two components, the expected effect of the reform is ambi...

This chapter presents a historical and theoretical overview of the public finance in general and for developing countries in particular. The chapter highlights that modern governments need revenue and often a lot more revenue than they needed in the past, to provide the levels of assistance and public services that modern societies expect governments to provide. However, because of the various ...

Macroeconomic studies of tax policy in dynamic general equilibrium usually assume that reforms hit the economy unexpectedly and last forever. Here, we explore how previous results change when we allow policy changes to be pre-announced and of finite duration and when these facts are anticipated by households and firms. Quantitatively we demonstrate a headstart advantage from pre-announcement th...

In recent years African countries have faced a barrage of policy advice backed with financial support from development partners urging them to implement ‘good governance’ reforms. Good governance has come to mean support for improving the enforcement of property rights, the rule of law, fighting corruption and improving accountability. These reforms have enjoyed broad support because many of th...