World Institute for Development Economics Research

About: World Institute for Development Economics Research is a facility organization based out in Helsinki, Finland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Poverty & Population. The organization has 110 authors who have published 525 publications receiving 17316 citations.

Anticipating Tax Changes: Evidence from the Finnish Corporate Income Tax Reform of 2005

Abstract: Using register-based panel data covering all Finnish firms in 1999-2004, we examine how corporations anticipated the 2005 dividend tax increase via changes in their dividend and investment policies. The Finnish capital and corporate income tax reform of 2005 creates a useful opportunity to measure this behaviour, since it involves exogenous variation in the tax treatment of different types of firms. The estimation results reveal that those firms that anticipated a dividend tax hike increased their dividend payouts by 10-50 per cent. This increase was not accompanied by a reduction in investment activities, but rather was associated with increased indebtedness in non-listed firms. The results also suggest that the timing of dividend distributions probably offsets much of the potential for increased dividend tax revenue following the reform.

Redefining Poverty in China and India: Making Growth More Inclusive, Part 2

Abstract: China and India are making immense strides in development. Growth in both countries has been impressive. But there is now much concern about whether impressive growth rates are yielding enough poverty reduction. The present debate about their poverty lines is a reflection of this. In this second part of a two-part article (first part featured in January’s Angle), we focus on more inclusive growth in these two Asian giants.

Gender Priming in Solidarity Games: The Philippine Context

Abstract: What is the effect of gender priming on solidarity behavior? We explore a two-player solidarity game where players can insure each other against risk of losses We test this experimentally in a developing country setting, the Philippines We consider a treatment that involves reminding subjects their gender and associated stereotypes We found that without priming, there are no statistically different gender differences in the solidarity game With priming, however, there is an increased willingness in women to provide insurance

Gender Implications of Biofuels Expansion: A CGE Analysis for Mozambique

Abstract: We use a gendered computable general equilibrium model to assess the implications of biofuels expansion in Mozambique We compare scenarios with different gender employment intensities in producing jatropha for biodiesel Under all scenarios, biofuels acc

A Decomposition Analysis of Regional Poverty in Russia

Abstract: This paper applies a new decomposition technique to the study of variations in poverty across the regions of Russia. The procedure, which is based on the Shapley value in cooperative game theory, allows the deviation in regional poverty levels from the all-Russia average to be attributed to three proximate sources; mean income per capita, inequality, and local prices. Contrary to expectation, regional poverty variations turn out to be due more to differences in inequality across regions than to differences in real income per capita.