IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2016-171.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Are taxes good for your health?

Author

Listed:
  • Paddy Carter
  • Alex Cobham

Abstract

The global framework for financing development, adopted in 2015, places great emphasis on mobilizing domestic resources to finance the Sustainable Development Goals, which include universal healthcare. In a recent paper Reeves et al. (2015) attribute progress towards universal healthcare to higher levels of taxation, but report a negative association between taxes on goods and services (indirect taxes) and health outcomes, which they hypothesise arises from the impact such taxes have on the real incomes of the poor.

Suggested Citation

  • Paddy Carter & Alex Cobham, 2016. "Are taxes good for your health?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-171, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2016-171
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2016-171.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan Di John, 2006. "The Political Economy of Taxation and Tax Reform in Developing Countries," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-74, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. (IFS), Institute for Fiscal Studies & Mirrlees, James (ed.), 2011. "Tax By Design: The Mirrlees Review," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199553747.
    3. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez & Stefanie Stantcheva, 2014. "Optimal Taxation of Top Labor Incomes: A Tale of Three Elasticities," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 230-271, February.
    4. Gabriel Zucman, 2014. "Taxing across Borders: Tracking Personal Wealth and Corporate Profits," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 121-148, Fall.
    5. Peter Reuter, 2012. "Draining Development? Controlling Flows of Illicit Funds from Developing Countries," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2242.
    6. Talvi, Ernesto & Vegh, Carlos A., 2005. "Tax base variability and procyclical fiscal policy in developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 156-190, October.
    7. Alex Cobham & Andrew Sumner, 2013. "Is it all about the tails? The Palma measure of income inequality," Working Papers 308, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    8. Nitsch, Volker, 2016. "Trillion Dollar Estimate: Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 80589, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    9. repec:idq:ictduk:10250 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Baunsgaard, Thomas & Keen, Michael, 2010. "Tax revenue and (or?) trade liberalization," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(9-10), pages 563-577, October.
    11. Rajkumar, Andrew Sunil & Swaroop, Vinaya, 2008. "Public spending and outcomes: Does governance matter?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 96-111, April.
    12. Kneller, Richard & Bleaney, Michael F. & Gemmell, Norman, 1999. "Fiscal policy and growth: evidence from OECD countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 171-190, November.
    13. Nora Lustig & Carola Pessino & George Gray Molina & Wilson Jimenez & Veronica Paz & Ernesto Yanez & Claudiney Pereira & Sean Higgins & John Scott & Miguel Jaramillo, 2011. "Fiscal Policy and Income Redistribution in Latin America: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom," Working Papers 1124, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    14. Carlos A. Vegh & Guillermo Vuletin, 2015. "How Is Tax Policy Conducted over the Business Cycle?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 327-370, August.
    15. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00944873 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. William Hauk & Romain Wacziarg, 2009. "A Monte Carlo study of growth regressions," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 103-147, June.
    17. Ernesto Crivelli & Ruud De Mooij & Michael Keen, 2016. "Base Erosion, Profit Shifting and Developing Countries," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 72(3), pages 268-301, September.
    18. Adam Wagstaff & Mariam Claeson, 2004. "The Millennium Development Goals for Health : Rising to the Challenges," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14954.
    19. Ramos E. Mabugu & Ismael Fofana & Margaret R. Chitiga-Mabugu, 2015. "Pro-Poor Tax Policy Changes in South Africa: Potential and Limitations," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 24(suppl_2), pages 73-105.
    20. Alex Cobham, Andy Sumner, 2013. "Is It All About the Tails? The Palma Measure of Income Inequality-Working Paper 343," Working Papers 343, Center for Global Development.
    21. Jishnu Das & Jeffrey Hammer, 2014. "Quality of Primary Care in Low-Income Countries: Facts and Economics," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 525-553, August.
    22. Prichard, Wilson & Salardi, Paola & Segal, Paul, 2018. "Taxation, non-tax revenue and democracy: New evidence using new cross-country data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 295-312.
    23. repec:idq:ictduk:10254 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Richard M. Bird & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (ed.), 2014. "Taxation and Development: The Weakest Link?," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15750.
    25. Filmer, Deon & Hammer, Jeffrey S & Pritchett, Lant H, 2000. "Weak Links in the Chain: A Diagnosis of Health Policy in Poor Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 15(2), pages 199-224, August.
    26. Edwards, Ryan B., 2016. "Mining away the Preston curve," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 22-36.
    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. Dincer, Oguzhan & Teoman, Ozgur, 2019. "Does corruption kill? Evidence from half a century infant mortality data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 332-339.
    2. Eugenia Go & Sam Hill & Maria Hanna Jaber & Yothin Jinjarak & Donghyun Park & Anton Ragos, 2024. "Developing Asia's fiscal landscape and challenges," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 38(1), pages 225-258, May.
    3. Faiz Ur Rehman & Muhammad Nasir, 2018. "In the Same Boat, but not Equals: The Heterogeneous Effects of Indirect Taxation on Child Health in Punjab-Pakistan," PIDE-Working Papers 2018:158, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    4. Rehman Faiz Ur & Nasir Muhammad, 2020. "In the Same Boat, but not Equals: The Heterogeneous Effects of Indirect Taxation on Child Health in Punjab-Pakistan," Asian Journal of Law and Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(3), pages 1-26, December.
    5. Stephen Hall & Janine Illian & Innocent Makuta & Kyle McNabb & Stuart Murray & Bernadette AM O’Hare & Andre Python & Syed Haider Ali Zaidi & Naor Bar-Zeev, 2021. "Government Revenue and Child and Maternal Mortality," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 213-229, February.

    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. Paddy Carter & Alex Cobham, 2016. "Are taxes good for your health?," WIDER Working Paper Series 171, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Alfò, Marco & Carbonari, Lorenzo & Trovato, Giovanni, 2023. "On the effects of taxation on growth: an empirical assessment," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(5), pages 1289-1318, July.
    3. Sena Kimm Gnangnon, 2020. "Effect of Development Aid on Tax Reform in Recipient-Countries: Does Trade Openness Matter?," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 11(01), pages 1-23, January.
    4. Salvatore Morelli & Timothy Smeeding & Jeffrey Thompson, 2014. "Post-1970 Trends in Within-Country Inequality and Poverty: Rich and Middle Income Countries," CSEF Working Papers 356, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    5. Céline Carrère & Jaime de Melo, 2015. "Fiscal Spending and Economic Growth: Some Stylized Facts," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Developing Countries in the World Economy, chapter 7, pages 167-196, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Cobham Alex & Davis William & Ibrahim Gamal & Sumner Andy, 2016. "Hidden Inequality: How Much Difference Would Adjustment for Illicit Financial Flows Make to National Income Distributions?," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-18, December.
    7. Pessino, Carola & Izquierdo, Alejandro & Vuletin, Guillermo, 2018. "Better Spending for Better Lives: How Latin America and the Caribbean Can Do More with Less," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 9152, December.
    8. Richard M. Bird, 2018. "Are global taxes feasible?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(5), pages 1372-1400, October.
    9. Delgadillo Chavarria, Carlos Bruno, 2019. "Gasto Público Social, Gobernanza y Desarrollo Humano: Una Aplicación con Datos Municipales de Bolivia: 1994-2008 [Social Public Expenditure, Governance and Human Development: An Application with Mu," MPRA Paper 95552, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Aug 2019.
    10. Niels Johannesen & Thomas Tørsløv & Ludvig Wier, 2016. "Are less developed countries more exposed to multinational tax avoidance? Method and evidence from micro-data," WIDER Working Paper Series 010, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Michaud, Amanda & Rothert, Jacek, 2018. "Redistributive fiscal policies and business cycles in emerging economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 123-133.
    12. Åsa Johansson, 2016. "Public Finance, Economic Growth and Inequality: A Survey of the Evidence," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1346, OECD Publishing.
    13. Ardanaz, Martín & Izquierdo, Alejandro, 2017. "Current Expenditure Upswings in Good Times and Capital Expenditure Downswings in Bad Times?: New Evidence from Developing Countries," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8558, Inter-American Development Bank.
    14. Syed Mansoob Murshed & Muhammad Badiuzzaman & Mohammad Habibullah Pulok, 2017. "Fiscal capacity and social protection expenditure in developing nations," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-60, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Frankel, Jeffrey A. & Vegh, Carlos A. & Vuletin, Guillermo, 2013. "On graduation from fiscal procyclicality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 32-47.
    16. Yuri Andrienko & Patricia Apps & Ray Rees, 2014. "Optimal Taxation, Inequality and Top Incomes," CEPR Discussion Papers 690, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    17. Christian Ebeke & Helene Ehrhart, 2012. "Tax Revenue Instability in Sub-Saharan Africa: Consequences and Remedies," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 21(1), pages 1-27, January.
    18. Mr. Alexander D Klemm, 2014. "Fiscal Policy in Latin America over the Cycle," IMF Working Papers 2014/059, International Monetary Fund.
    19. Asif Ahmad & Richard McManus & F. Gulcin Ozkan, 2021. "Fiscal space and the procyclicality of fiscal policy: The case for making hay while the sun shines," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(4), pages 1687-1701, October.
    20. Haibara Takumi, 2017. "Indirect Tax Reform in Developing Countries: A Consumption-Neutral Approach," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-11, June.

    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:unu:wpaper:wp-2016-171. 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: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.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.