Structural Reforms in Latin America: What Has Been Reformed and How to Measure it

Lora, Eduardo

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1817262

Cited by 180 publications

(193 citation statements)

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“…Indeed, governments in Latin America have been active reformers during the last couple of decades. As Lora (2007) suggests, there has been a "silent revolution" (ibid: 5) of institutional reform that has swept the region. Taxation has not been the exception, as "reforming activity has been continuous and more frequent than in previous decades " (ibid: 205).…”

Section: Tax Reforms In Latin American Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another important work that looked at tax reform in the broader context of structural reform is Lora (2012). Lora argues that, among the economic determinants, the drive for introducing reforms to increase revenues arose from the need to preserve fiscal balance in a context of high inflation and lower revenues from international trade rather than from the pursuit of an increase in expenditures for social or economic policy or of higher progressivity of the system.…”

Section: Tax Reforms In Latin American Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lora (2012), as part of a broader effort to quantify structural reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean, has updated an index of tax reforms. The index, which was originally designed at the time of the Washington Consensus, is geared towards measuring the efficiency of the tax system by concentrating its attention on the income and VAT tax rates, and on VAT productivity.…”

Section: Tax Reforms In Latin American Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To ensure the quality of our data we compared it with the data collected by Mahon (2004) and Lora (2007a), and we double-checked by looking into countries' legal tax codes when there was any discrepancy between the sources. 10 The coding of the reforms was inspired by the work of Mahon (2004) and Lora (2007) but it includes some refinements. We classify each reform in one of 15 categories (followed in parenthesis by its abbreviated code): tax system overhauls (T), creation of VAT (VC), changes in VAT rates (VR), in VAT base (VE), personal income tax (PIT) rate (PIR), PIT base (PI), corporate income tax (CIT) rates (CIR), CIT base (CI), comprehensive administrative reforms (A), reforms to taxes on financial transactions (FT), reforms to excise taxes (E), reforms to other taxes (O), reforms to tax incentives (TI), to social security contributions (SS), and finally other minor or hard to classify reforms (M).…”

Section: The Database Of Reformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies that look at the micro evidence of tax reforms are rather scarce (exceptions include Mahon, 2004 andLora, 2007). This is not necessarily a consequence of a lack of interest in the topic but a result of the difficulty of quantifying tax reforms, i.e., collecting data and transforming the information regarding changes in tax laws into variables that can be the subject of quantitative analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Inter-American Development Bank, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent. Terms of use: Documents inThe unauthorized commercial use of Bank documents is prohibited and may be punishable under the Bank's policies and/or applicable laws.Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank. This working paper may be reproduced for any non-commercial purpose. It may also be reproduced in any academic journal indexed by the American Economic Association's EconLit, with previous consent by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), provided that the IDB is credited and that the author(s) receive no income from the publication. The literature on taxes and public finance generally focuses on revenues, an easily observable and generally available variable, as the observable measure of tax policy. Still, revenues depend on many determinants other than the political will and policy objectives of the government. It is therefore important, when studying the politics of taxation, to evaluate specific changes to the tax code such as rates, bases and exemptions. With the underlying goal of exploring the political process and the determinants of tax policy, this paper compiles a novel and highly comprehensive database of tax reforms for Latin America between 1990 and 2004. The paper presents a description of the database as well as the stylized facts of tax reforms in Latin America. Examples of the database's uses are discussed, as is motivation for future research. Cataloging-in-Publication

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Section: Tax Reforms In Latin American Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Tax Reforms In Latin American Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Tax Reforms In Latin American Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Database Of Reformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tax Reforms in Latin America in an Era of Democracy

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Another lost decade? The future of reform in Latin America

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The 1990s ended equivocally in Latin America. What has gone wrong? Is economic failure the cause or the consequence of the democratic decay and the erosion of governance throughout the region? The review essay revisits the debate on the intricate links between politics and economics in the second stage of reform. Moving beyond standard typologies of regime type, it explores the interactions between the quality of democratic governance and the performance of economic policy under democratic auspices, in particular its credibility. It is now amply recognized that reforms have been hindered by inefficient unreliable and unaccountable government institutions. Furthermore, the manner in which market reforms have been implemented has undermined governance and accountability. The importance of policy credibility has essentially been neglected as a pivotal condition for effective economic reform. Consequently, policymakers propose a new round of reforms, centring on strengthening the institutions of governance and modifying the incentives shaping public policy. The essay argues that restoring the credibility of policy requires a fundamental redefinition of the state and reforming the methods of government and the styles of policymaking. The defining challenge of Latin American countries is to strengthen capacity to adequately implement policy and credibly commit to policy reform.

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Full Report ‐ World of Work Report 2008: Income inequalities in the age of financial globalization

2008

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In the majority of countries, the incomes of rich people have grown faster than is the case for their poorer counterparts. The report examines to what extent this is a problem for society and the economy. It also analyses the factors behind observed trends and assesses what can policy makers do to address excessive income inequality. The report looks at these issues comprehensively and provides answers to some of the key questions of international debate on income inequality.

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Structural Reforms in Latin America: What Has Been Reformed and How to Measure it

Cited by 180 publications

References 14 publications

Tax Reforms in Latin America in an Era of Democracy

Tax Reforms in Latin America in an Era of Democracy

Another lost decade? The future of reform in Latin America

Full Report ‐ World of Work Report 2008: Income inequalities in the age of financial globalization

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