Taxes and other fiscal measures on health-related commodities are in widespread use. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco products have been subjected to taxation for a long time in most countries. Several OECD governments have passed legislation to increase existing taxes or to introduce new taxes...

Risky health behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcohol, drug use, unprotected sex, and poor diets and sedentary lifestyles (leading to obesity) are a major source of preventable deaths. This chapter overviews the theoretical frameworks for, and empirical evidence on, the economics of risky...

This paper jointly and separately examines the redistributive and poverty effects of tax and public expenditures (education and health) in Cameroon. The tax system is generally progressive but less so than the benefits of public expenditure. While overall public spending is mostly progressive in...

Substantial fiscal consolidation was achieved under the aegis of the 2003 Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. While deficits widened anew in 2008 and 2009, against the backdrop of the global financial and economic crisis, efforts to reduce them have resumed since. To ensure...

The paper presents a brief theoretical and historical explanation of the transformative process of the Japanese economy from a stagnant agrarian society to a modern industrial one. Specifically, it analyzes the role of agriculture in the early stage of Japan's development in the last three...

Usage of diesel fuel increased in parallel with the increased usage of machines in the agricultural Sector in Turkey. Consequently, the cost of diesel fuel has taken a substantial share within the cost of agricultural products. The ongoing rising trend in diesel fuel prices forced subsidies for...

The paper proposes a method to speed up the transition toward the notional contributions pension system in Italy. It seems the most appropriate manner to combine and pursue employment and financial sustainability goals. The method computes percentages for abating the old retributive pensions...

Food security is an elusive concept. Many economists doubt that it has any precise meaning at all. Having enough to eat on a regular basis, however, is a powerful human need, and satisfying this need drives household behavior in both private and public markets in predictable ways. Indeed, the...

This paper presents the first household-level study to examine the combined impacts of the global food and financial crises on household food security and economic well-being in a developing country. Using longitudinal survey data of 1,800 rural households from 12 districts of Bangladesh over...

This module illustrates how poverty can be defined in the context of policy impact analysis. After reporting and discussing the definition of poverty as “the lack of, or the inability to achieve, a socially acceptable standard of living”, it discusses the mono-dimensional and...