IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2020-85.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Investigating the fiscal resource curse: What's China got to do with it?

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Chachu
  • Edward Nketiah-Amponsah

Abstract

The term fiscal resource curse refers to countries' inability to raise taxes from a broad base in the presence of natural resources. We employ a novel instrumental variable strategy to estimate the causal effect of resource revenues on non-resource tax effort by exploiting the so-called 'China shock'. Since its 2001 accession to the World Trade Organization, China's non-renewable resource trade has driven up commodity prices, raising resource revenues among exporting countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Chachu & Edward Nketiah-Amponsah, 2020. "Investigating the fiscal resource curse: What's China got to do with it?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-85, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-85
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2020-85.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Crivelli, Ernesto & Gupta, Sanjeev, 2014. "Resource blessing, revenue curse? Domestic revenue effort in resource-rich countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 88-101.
    2. Tania Masi & Antonio Savoia & Kunal Sen, 2018. "Is there a fiscal resource curse? Resource rents, fiscal capacity and political institutions," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-096-18, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    3. Abdallah Ali-Nakyea & John Kwaku Amoh, 2018. "Have the generous tax incentives in the natural resource sector been commensurate with FDI flows? A critical analysis from an emerging economy," International Journal of Critical Accounting, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 10(3/4), pages 257-273.
    4. Timothy Besley & Torsten Persson, 2010. "State Capacity, Conflict, and Development," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(1), pages 1-34, January.
    5. repec:idq:ictduk:12795 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Dina Pomeranz & José Vila-Belda, 2019. "Taking State-Capacity Research to the Field: Insights from Collaborations with Tax Authorities," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 755-781, August.
    7. Parente, Paulo M.D.C. & Santos Silva, J.M.C., 2012. "A cautionary note on tests of overidentifying restrictions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 314-317.
    8. Brautigam,Deborah & Fjeldstad,Odd-Helge & Moore,Mick (ed.), 2008. "Taxation and State-Building in Developing Countries," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521716192, October.
    9. Knack, Stephen, 2009. "Sovereign rents and quality of tax policy and administration," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 359-371, September.
    10. Anthony J. Venables, 2016. "Using Natural Resources for Development: Why Has It Proven So Difficult?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(1), pages 161-184, Winter.
    11. Ama Baafra Abeberese, 2020. "The Effect of Electricity Shortages on Firm Investment: Evidence from Ghana," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 29(1), pages 46-62.
    12. Prichard, Wilson, 2016. "Reassessing Tax and Development Research: A New Dataset, New Findings, and Lessons for Research," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 48-60.
    13. Paul Clist, 2016. "Foreign aid and domestic taxation: multiple sources, one conclusion," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 34(3), pages 365-383, May.
    14. Brautigam,Deborah & Fjeldstad,Odd-Helge & Moore,Mick (ed.), 2008. "Taxation and State-Building in Developing Countries," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521888158, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Mawejje, Joseph & Sebudde, Rachel K., 2019. "Tax revenue potential and effort: Worldwide estimates using a new dataset," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 119-129.
    2. Abel Gwaindepi, 2021. "Domestic revenue mobilisation in developing countries: An exploratory analysis of sub‐Saharan Africa and Latin America," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 396-421, March.
    3. Mawejje, Joseph, 2019. "Natural resources governance and tax revenue mobilization in sub saharan Africa: The role of EITI," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 176-183.
    4. Tania Masi & Antonio Savoia & Kunal Sen, 2020. "Is there a fiscal resource curse? Resource rents, fiscal capacity, and political institutions in developing economies," WIDER Working Paper Series wp2020-10, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Masi, Tania & Savoia, Antonio & Sen, Kunal, 2024. "Is there a fiscal resource curse? Resource rents, fiscal capacity and political institutions in developing economies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    6. Bolch, Kimberly B. & Ceriani, Lidia & López-Calva, Luis F., 2022. "The arithmetics and politics of domestic resource mobilization for poverty eradication," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    7. Abrams M.E. Tagem & Oliver Morrissey, 2021. "What are the drivers of tax capacity in sub-Saharan Africa?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-161, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Tania Masi & Antonio Savoia & Kunal Sen, 2018. "Is there a fiscal resource curse? Resource rents, fiscal capacity and political institutions," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-096-18, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    9. Roel Dom, 2017. "Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authorities in Sub-Saharan Africa: Silver Bullet or White Elephant," Discussion Papers 2017-01, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    10. Liu, Feng & Liu, Fengrui & Huang, Jiqiang & Dong, Haoran, 2024. "Aid and national tax capacity: Empirical evidence from Chinese aid," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    11. Sarra Ben Slimane, 2024. "The Impact of Resource Revenue on Non-Resource Tax Revenue in Oil-Exporting Countries: Evidence from Nonlinear Analysis," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(1), pages 272-280, January.
    12. Cappelen, Alexander W. & Fjeldstad, Odd-Helge & Mmari, Donald & Sjursen, Ingrid Hoem & Tungodden, Bertil, 2021. "Understanding the resource curse: A large-scale experiment on corruption in Tanzania," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 129-157.
    13. Lisa Chauvet & Marin Ferry, 2021. "Taxation, infrastructure, and firm performance in developing countries," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 187(3), pages 455-480, June.
    14. Elbahnasawy, Nasr G. & Ellis, Michael A., 2022. "Inflation and the Structure of Economic and Political Systems," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 59-74.
    15. Djedje Hermann Yohou, 2015. "In Search of Fiscal Space in Africa: The Role of the Quality of Government Spending," CERDI Working papers halshs-01222812, HAL.
    16. Savoia, Antonio & Sen, Kunal & Tagem, Abrams M. E., 2023. "Constraints on the executive and tax revenues in the long run," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 314-331, June.
    17. Marin Ferry, 2019. "The carrot and stick approach to debt relief: overcoming moral hazard," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 28(3), pages 252-276.
    18. Jean-François Brun & Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2019. "Tax reform, public revenue and public revenue instability in developing countries: Does development aid matter?," CERDI Working papers halshs-02089734, HAL.
    19. Djedje Hermann YOHOU & Michaël GOUJON, 2017. "Reassessing Tax Effort in Developing Countries: a Proposal of a Vulnerability-Adjusted Tax Effort Index (VATEI)," Working Papers P186, FERDI.
    20. Harouna Kinda, 2021. "Does transparency pay ? The impact of EITI on tax revenues in resource-rich developing countries," Working Papers hal-03208955, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    China; Infrastructure; Natural resources; Tax; Tax effort; Trade;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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-2020-85. 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.