Topics in Policy Evaluation SoSe 23 – Public Sector Economics in Less Developed Countries

In this seminar, we focus on an emerging literature that tackles questions related to public sector economics in less developed countries (LDCs).

Seminar topics relate to tax policy & tax administration design and public goods & service provision in LDCs. In the tax domain, we discuss how the lack of tax administrative capacity in many LDCs impacts optimal tax system and tax administrative design and cover empirical papers that quantify the impact of taxes and administrative interventions on taxpayer behavior (e.g. the decision to operate in the formal economy). Regarding public good and service provision, we cover topics related to public procurement, corruption and the socio-economic impact of public goods and services provision in specific domains (e.g. the construction of road infrastructure). We cover seminal papers and work at the research frontier. Most topics are empirical in nature. A sound background in empirical economics is thus a plus (but not a formal requirement).

We will have a first organizational meeting via zoom on Wednesday April 12, 10am. Please follow the zoom link below:

https://wwu.zoom.us/j/65676119990

In this first meeting, we will present the seminar topics and provide information on the organization of the seminar.