[go: up one dir, main page]

IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tul/wpaper/1711.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Measuring the Effectiveness of Taxes and Transfers in Fighting Inequality and Poverty

Author

Listed:
  • Ali Enami

    (Department of Economics, Tulane University)

Abstract
This chapter introduces new indicators that measure the effectiveness of the elements of a fiscal system in reducing inequality and poverty. The new indices are generally divided into two families of Impact Effectiveness (IE) and Spending Effectiveness (SE) indicators and are applicable in any context (i.e. inequality and poverty). Moreover, a variation of the former, known as the Fiscal Impoverishment and Gains Effectiveness indicator (FI/FGP), is separately introduced that is only applicable in the context of poverty. IE and SE indicators are similar in the sense that they both compare the performance of a tax or transfer in reducing inequality or poverty with respect to its theoretically maximum potential. For IE indicators, we keep the amount of money raised (or spent) constant and compare the actual and potential performance of a tax (or transfer) to each other. For SE indicators, we keep the impact of a tax (or transfer) on inequality or poverty constant and compare the actual size of a tax (or transfer) with the theoretically minimum amount of tax (or transfer) that would create the same impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Ali Enami, 2017. "Measuring the Effectiveness of Taxes and Transfers in Fighting Inequality and Poverty," Working Papers 1711, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:tul:wpaper:1711
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.tulane.edu/RePEc/pdf/tul1711.pdf
    File Function: First Version, August 2017
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fei, John C H, 1981. "Equity Oriented Fiscal Programs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 869-881, June.
    2. repec:bla:scandj:v:101:y:1999:i:1:p:115-26 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Ali Enami, 2016. "An Application of the CEQ Effectiveness Indicators: The Case of Iran," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 58, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Margarita Beneke & Nora Lustig, 2015. "El Impacto de los Impuestos y el Gasto Social en la Desigualdad y la Pobreza en El Salvador," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 26, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    2. Younes Zouhar & Jon Jellema & Nora Lustig & Mohamed Trabelsi, 2021. "Public Expenditure and Inclusive Growth - A Survey," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 109, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    3. Nora Lustig & Florencia Amábile & Marisa Bucheli & George Gray Molina & Sean Higgins & Miguel Jaramillo & Wilson Jiménez Pozo & Veronica Paz Arauco & Claudiney Pereira & Carola Pessino & Máximo Rossi , 2014. "El impacto del sistema tributario y del gasto social sobre la desigualdad y la pobreza en Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, México, Perú y Uruguay: Un panorama general," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 13S, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    4. Cabrera, Maynor & Lustig, Nora & Morán, Hilcías E., 2015. "Fiscal Policy, Inequality, and the Ethnic Divide in Guatemala," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 263-279.
    5. Nora Lustig, 2015. "Fiscal Policy and Ethno-Racial Inequality in Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala and Uruguay," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 22, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    6. Higgins, Sean & Lustig, Nora, 2016. "Can a poverty-reducing and progressive tax and transfer system hurt the poor?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 63-75.
    7. Margarita Beneke & Nora Lustig & Jose Andres Oliva, 2016. "The Impact of Taxes and Social Spending on Inequality and Poverty in El Salvador," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 57, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    8. Nora Lustig, 2015. "The Redistributive Impactive of Government Spending on Education and Health Evidence from Thirteen Developing Countries in the Commitment to Equity Project," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 30, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    9. Dalmacio & William Seitz & Jon Jellema & Maya Goldman, 2021. "The Effects of Fiscal Policy on Poverty and Inequality in Tajikistan," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 108, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    10. Inchauste, Gabriela & Lustig, Nora & Maboshe, Mashekwa & Purfield, Catriona & Woolard, Ingrid, 2015. "The distributional impact of fiscal policy in South Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7194, The World Bank.
    11. Ali Enami, 2016. "An Application of the CEQ Effectiveness Indicators: The Case of Iran," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 58, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    12. Marisa Bucheli, 2014. "Public Transfers and Poverty Reduction: an Evaluation of Program Contribution to the Exit Rate from Poverty of Children and the Elderly," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0914, Department of Economics - dECON.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chakravarty, Satya R. & Sarkar, Palash, 2022. "A synthesis of local and effective tax progressivity measurement," MPRA Paper 115180, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Achille VERNIZZI & Maria Giovanna MONTI & Marek KOSNY, 2006. "An overall inequality reducing and horizontally equitable tax system with application to Polish data," Departmental Working Papers 2006-15, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    3. Ok, Efe A., 1995. "On the principle of equal sacrifice in income taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 453-467, November.
    4. Ebert, Udo & Moyes, Patrick, 2000. "Consistent Income Tax Structures When Households Are Heterogeneous," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 116-150, January.
    5. Satya R. Chakravarty & Palash Sarkar, 2022. "Inequality minimising subsidy and taxation," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 10(1), pages 53-67, May.
    6. Ivica Urban, 2016. "Impact of Taxes and Benefits on Inequality among Groups of Income Units," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(1), pages 120-144, March.
    7. Justin Van De Ven & John Creedy, 2005. "Taxation, Reranking and Equivalence Scales," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 13-36, January.
    8. Ronny Aboudi & Dominique Thon, 2010. "Characterizations of egalitarian binary relations as transitive closures with a special reference to Lorenz dominance and to single-crossing conditions," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 35(4), pages 575-593, October.
    9. Luis José Imedio Olmedo, 2012. "Propiedades redistributivas del impuesto lineal," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 201(2), pages 93-111, June.
    10. Mitra, Tapan & Ok, Efe A., 1997. "On the Equitability of Progressive Taxation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 316-334, April.
    11. Patrick Moyes & Alain Trannoy, 1999. "Le quotient familial : une structure fiscale cohérente avec le critère de Lorenz relatif," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 138(2), pages 111-124.
    12. Nir Dagan, 2008. "An axiomatization of the leveling tax-transfer policy," Economic theory and game theory 020, Nir Dagan.
    13. Satya R. Chakravarty & Rama Pal & Rupayan Pal & Palash Sarkar, 2022. "Minimum inequality taxation, average and minimally progressive taxations and depolarization," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2022-010, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    14. Kakwani, Nanak & Lambert, Peter J., 1998. "On measuring inequity in taxation: a new approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 369-380, May.
    15. Nanak Kakwani & Hyun Hwa Son, 2021. "Normative Measures of Tax Progressivity: an International Comparison," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(1), pages 185-212, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality; poverty; fiscal incidence; marginal contribution; effectiveness indicator;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • 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:1711. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 bibliographic 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.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kerui Geng (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/detulus.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.