Oil resources usually play a significant role in oil-rich countries, in gross domestic product and government revenues. High dependence of government revenues on oil can contribute to severe recession following an adverse commodity price shock, such as in 2014. This paper examines the extent to...

US federal transfers to individuals are large, countercyclical, vary geographically, and are often credited for helping stabilize regional economies. This paper estimates the short-run effects of these transfers using plausibly exogenous regional variation in temporary stimulus packages and...

Ministries of finance are often asked to guarantee a state-owned electricity utility's payments to an independent power producer under a power-purchase agreement. To decide whether to grant the guarantee, the ministry should have at least a rough estimate of the guarantee's expected cost. Making...

In 2012, the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region continued its successful drive to reduce poverty and build the middle class. Poverty reduction was accompanied by strong income growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population, the World Bank's indicator of shared prosperity. However,...

The global movement toward universal health coverage (UHC) is accompanied by requests for large increases in government health spending in some countries. This combined with the global economic situation and stagnant economic growth across many low- and middle-income countries make it more...

This paper analyzes the socioeconomic, fiscal, and governance impact of gold mining in Mali. The analysis finds that, at the national level, mining plays an important role by contributing to export earnings and overall government fiscal revenue. In 2013, the mining sector represented 7 percent...

The paper employs the Commitment to Equity framework to present a first attempt at a comprehensive fiscal incidence analysis for Belarus, encompassing the revenue and expenditures components of the fiscal system, including direct and indirect taxes, as well as direct, indirect, and in-kind...

How should resource-dependent countries respond (fiscally) to resource price volatility? This paper studies what determines revenue allocation between a "spend today" strategy and a "save now-spend tomorrow" approach in the context of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It uses a...

This paper proposes a new measure of public expenditure force that policy makers and budget analysts should track in detail over time in routine fiscal monitoring. The paper suggests that adopting the measure will not only warn policy makers of possible impending fiscal pressures, but will help...