No modern state can exist in the long term without effective taxation. Recent research
emerging from close collaboration of academics with tax authorities has shed new light on …

Tax revenue in many low-and middle-income countries is inadequate for funding
investments in public goods and human capital. With high levels of informality and limited …

Can taxes on consumption redistribute in developing countries? Contrary to consensus, we
show that taxing consumption is progressive once we account for informal consumption …

This paper investigates the trade-offs between local elites and state agents as tax collectors
in low-capacity states. We study a randomized policy experiment assigning neighborhoods …

Increasing tax revenues is a major policy goal in many low-and lower-middle-income
countries. While economic growth is an important determinant of taxation, available …

Widespread corruption and lack of trust in political institutions are common development
problems that are likely deeply interconnected. We contribute to the existing understanding …

Can decentralization of political powers increase trust in government? We present quasi-
experimental evidence from Ukraine where political trust has been among the lowest levels …

This paper investigates how tax rates and tax enforcement jointly impact fiscal capacity in
low‐income countries. We study a policy experiment in the DR Congo that randomly …

We study the most under-utilized tax in developing countries—the property tax—by
modeling and estimating the welfare effects of tax rate changes and enforcement. The model …

Institutions are a key determinant of economic growth, but the critical junctures in which
institutions can change are not precisely defined. For example, such junctures are often …