scholarly journals Assessing the Equity and Redistributive Effects of Taxation Reforms in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry C. Edeh

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of poverty and inequality reduction through redistribution have indeed become critical concerns in many low- and middle-income countries, including Nigeria. Although redistribution results from the effect of tax revenue collections, micro household-level empirical analyses of the distributional effect of personal income tax (PIT) and value added tax (VAT) reforms in Nigeria have been scarcely carried out. This study for the first time quantitatively assessed both the equity and redistributive effects of PIT and VAT across different reform scenarios in Nigeria. Data used in this study was mainly drawn from the most recent large scale nationally representative Nigeria Living Standard Survey, conducted in 2018/2019. The Kakwani Index was used to calculate and compare the progressivity of PIT and VAT reforms. A simple static micro-simulation model was employed in assessing the redistributive effect of PIT and VAT reforms in the country. After informality has been accounted for, the PIT was found to be progressive in the pre- 2011 tax scheme, but turned regressive in the post-2011 tax scheme. It was also discovered that the newly introduced lump sum relief allowance in the post-2011 PIT scheme accrues more to the high-income than to the low-income taxpayers – confirming the regressivity of the current PIT scheme. However, the study further shows (through counterfactual simulations) that excluding the relatively high-income taxpayers from sharing in the variable part of the lump sum relief allowance makes PIT progressive in the post-2011 scheme. The VAT was uncovered to be regressive both in the pre-2020 scheme, and in the current VAT reform scheme. Further, after putting informality into consideration, the PIT was found to marginally reduce inequality but increase poverty in the pre-2011 scheme. The post-2011 PIT scheme reduced inequality and increased poverty, but by a smaller proportion – confirming a limited redistribution mainly resulting from the concentration of the lump sum relief allowance at the top of the distribution. However, if the variable part of the lump sum relief allowance is provided for ‘only’ the low-income taxpayers below a predefined income threshold, the post-2011 PIT scheme becomes largely redistributive. VAT was uncovered to marginally increase inequality and poverty in the pre-2020 scheme. Though the current VAT scheme slightly increased inequality, it considerably increased poverty in the country. It is therefore suggested that a better tax reform, with well-regulated relief allowance and differentiated VAT rates, will help to enhance the equity and redistribution capacity of the Nigeria tax system.

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (27) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vjekoslav Domljan ◽  
Goran Mirašćić ◽  
Goran Riđić ◽  
Ognjen Riđić

After 21 post-war years Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) found itself in a “middle-income trap”. It is not classified into low income countries because workers and citizens do not accept low wages and low standard of living, nor does it fit into high income countries because those workers do not produce sophisticated products that ensure competitiveness, export and the basis for high wages and the standard of living. The development vision of BiH is to become a high income country. However, the state has neither suitable strategy nor policy.This paper represents a detailed research of multifaceted secondary sources (i.e. journal articles, government publications, internet sources, etc.), conducted in a cross-sectional time manner. By utilizing secondary sources of data we conducted our own calculations based on data from the World Bank, the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina.We hold that key sectors which would provide return to pre-crisis GDP growthrate of 6-7 percent per year, should be: financial system, diaspora and digitalizationof industry (with the introduction of suitable strategies and policies), each of whichwould contribute to GDP growth of two percent per year. The key agents of changeshould be the leaders of value chains (large-scale companies), cities-regions, gazellecompanies (fast growing small and medium size companies) and micro digital companies.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 2530
Author(s):  
Navika Gangrade ◽  
Janet Figueroa ◽  
Tashara M. Leak

Snacking contributes a significant portion of adolescents’ daily energy intake and is associated with poor overall diet and increased body mass index. Adolescents from low socioeconomic status (SES) households have poorer snacking behaviors than their higher-SES counterparts. However, it is unclear if the types of food/beverages and nutrients consumed during snacking differ by SES among adolescents. Therefore, this study examines SES disparities in the aforementioned snacking characteristics by analyzing the data of 7132 adolescents (12–19 years) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2018. Results reveal that adolescents from low-income households (poverty-to-income ratio (PIR) ≤ 1.3) have lower odds of consuming the food/beverage categories “Milk and Dairy” (aOR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.58-0.95; p = 0.007) and “Fruits” (aOR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.50–0.78; p = 0.001) as snacks and higher odds of consuming “Beverages” (aOR: 1.45; 95% CI: 1.19-1.76; p = 0.001) compared to those from high-income households (PIR > 3.5). Additionally, adolescents from low- and middle-income (PIR > 1.3–3.5) households consume more added sugar (7.98 and 7.78 g vs. 6.66 g; p = 0.012, p = 0.026) and less fiber (0.78 and 0.77 g vs. 0.84 g; p = 0.044, p = 0.019) from snacks compared to their high-income counterparts. Future research is necessary to understand factors that influence snacking among adolescents, and interventions are needed, especially for adolescents from low-SES communities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. E13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Dewan ◽  
Ronnie E. Baticulon ◽  
Abbas Rattani ◽  
James M. Johnston ◽  
Benjamin C. Warf ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVEThe presence and capability of existing pediatric neurosurgical care worldwide is unknown. The objective of this study was to solicit the expertise of specialists to quantify the geographic representation of pediatric neurosurgeons, access to specialist care, and equipment and training needs globally.METHODSA mixed-question survey was sent to surgeon members of several international neurosurgical and general pediatric surgical societies via a web-based platform. Respondents answered questions on 5 categories: surgeon demographics and training, hospital and practice details, surgical workforce and access to neurosurgical care, training and equipment needs, and desire for international collaboration. Responses were anonymized and analyzed using Stata software.RESULTSA total of 459 surgeons from 76 countries responded. Pediatric neurosurgeons in high-income and upper-middle-income countries underwent formal pediatric training at a greater rate than surgeons in low- and lower-middle-income countries (89.5% vs 54.4%). There are an estimated 2297 pediatric neurosurgeons in practice globally, with 85.6% operating in high-income and upper-middle-income countries. In low- and lower-middle-income countries, roughly 330 pediatric neurosurgeons care for a total child population of 1.2 billion. In low-income countries in Africa, the density of pediatric neurosurgeons is roughly 1 per 30 million children. A higher proportion of patients in low- and lower-middle-income countries must travel > 2 hours to seek emergency neurosurgical care, relative to high-income countries (75.6% vs 33.6%, p < 0.001). Vast basic and essential training and equipment needs exist, particularly low- and lower-middle-income countries within Africa, South America, the Eastern Mediterranean, and South-East Asia. Eighty-nine percent of respondents demonstrated an interest in international collaboration for the purposes of pediatric neurosurgical capacity building.CONCLUSIONSWide disparity in the access to pediatric neurosurgical care exists globally. In low- and lower-middle-income countries, wherein there exists the greatest burden of pediatric neurosurgical disease, there is a grossly insufficient presence of capable providers and equipped facilities. Neurosurgeons across income groups and geographic regions share a desire for collaboration and partnership.


The Lancet ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 390 (10113) ◽  
pp. 2643-2654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A Lear ◽  
Weihong Hu ◽  
Sumathy Rangarajan ◽  
Danijela Gasevic ◽  
Darryl Leong ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 09 (03) ◽  
pp. 1850010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudeshna Ghosh

This paper explores the causal association between globalization and carbon dioxide emanations in a panel set of 17 low- and low-middle-income countries and 12 upper-middle and high-income countries of Asia, respectively. The time series of observations run from 1974 to 2014. The Westerlund (2007) panel cointegration test reveals that there exists a long-run cointegrating relationship in both the panel set of observations between globalization and CO2 emissions. For the panel of upper-middle and high-income countries of Asia the long-run panel (heterogeneous elasticities) shows that globalization does not cause environmental damage, contrary to the observation based on lower- and lower-middle-income countries. The study is in conformity with the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis. The Granger causality between the variables is explored by utilizing the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) Granger Causality tests. The empirical observation shows that globalization-led environmental causality is valid for lower- and lower-middle-income countries of Asia. So proper sustainable green and clean technology must be adopted for the low-income countries to stop the negation of the growth process in the near future.


SICOT-J ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Simon Matthew Graham ◽  
Ciaran Brennan ◽  
Maritz Laubscher ◽  
Sithombo Maqungo ◽  
David G. Lalloo ◽  
...  

Background: To perform a bibliometric analysis and quantify the amount of orthopaedic and trauma literature published from low-income countries (LICs). Methods and methods: The Web of Science database was utilised to identify all indexed orthopaedic journals. All articles published in the 76 orthopaedics journals over the last 10 years were reviewed, to determine their geographic origin. Results: A total of 131 454 articles were published across 76 orthopaedic journals over the last 10 years. Of these, 132 (0.1%) were published from LICs and 3515 (2.7%) were published from lower middle-income countries (LMICs); 85.7% (n = 112 716) of published orthopaedic research was undertaken in a high-income setting. The majority of the studies (n = 90, 74.4%) presented level IV evidence. Only 7.4% (n = 9) were high-quality evidence (level I or II). Additionally, the majority of research (74 articles, 56%) was published in partnership with high-income countries (HICs). Conclusions: There is a stark mismatch between the publication of scientific reports on orthopaedic research and the geographical areas of greatest clinical need. We believe there is an urgent need for orthopaedic research to be carried out in low-income settings to guide treatment and improve outcomes, rather than assuming that evidence from high-income settings will translate into this environment. Level of evidence: IV


2019 ◽  
Vol 96 (5) ◽  
pp. 322-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiming Tang ◽  
Jessica Mao ◽  
Katherine T Li ◽  
Jennifer S Walker ◽  
Roger Chou ◽  
...  

BackgroundGenital chlamydia infection in women is often asymptomatic, but may result in adverse outcomes before and during pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to examine the strength of the relationships between chlamydia infection and different reproductive health outcomes and to assess the certainty of the evidence.MethodsThis review was registered and followed the Cochrane guidelines. We searched three databases to quantitatively examine adverse outcomes associated with chlamydia infection. We included pregnancy and fertility-related outcomes. We performed meta-analyses on different study designs for various adverse outcomes using unadjusted and adjusted analyses.ResultsWe identified 4730 unique citations and included 107 studies reporting 12 pregnancy and fertility-related outcomes. Sixty-eight studies were conducted in high-income countries, 37 studies were conducted in low-income or middle-income countries, and 2 studies were conducted in both high-income and low-income countries. Chlamydia infection was positively associated with almost all of the 12 included pregnancy and fertility-related adverse outcomes in unadjusted analyses, including stillbirth (OR=5.05, 95% CI 2.95 to 8.65 for case–control studies and risk ratio=1.28, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.51 for cohort studies) and spontaneous abortion (OR=1.30, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.49 for case–control studies and risk ratio=1.47, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.85 for cohort studies). However, there were biases in the design and conduct of individual studies, affecting the certainty of the overall body of evidence. The risk of adverse outcomes associated with chlamydia is higher in low-income and middle-income countries compared with high-income countries.ConclusionChlamydia is associated with an increased risk of several pregnancy and fertility-related adverse outcomes in unadjusted analyses, especially in low-income and middle-income countries. Further research on how to prevent the sequelae of chlamydia in pregnant women is needed.Trial registration numberCRD42017056818.


2019 ◽  
Vol 216 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Winsper ◽  
Ayten Bilgin ◽  
Andrew Thompson ◽  
Steven Marwaha ◽  
Andrew M. Chanen ◽  
...  

BackgroundPersonality disorders are now internationally recognised as a mental health priority. Nevertheless, there are no systematic reviews examining the global prevalence of personality disorders.AimsTo calculate the worldwide prevalence of personality disorders and examine whether rates vary between high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).MethodWe systematically searched PsycINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE and PubMed from January 1980 to May 2018 to identify articles reporting personality disorder prevalence rates in community populations (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42017065094).ResultsA total of 46 studies (from 21 different countries spanning 6 continents) satisfied inclusion criteria. The worldwide pooled prevalence of any personality disorder was 7.8% (95% CI 6.1–9.5). Rates were greater in high-income countries (9.6%, 95% CI 7.9–11.3%) compared with LMICs (4.3%, 95% CI 2.6–6.1%). In univariate meta-regressions, significant heterogeneity was partly attributable to study design (two-stage v. one-stage assessment), county income (high-income countries v. LMICs) and interview administration (clinician v. trained graduate). In multiple meta-regression analysis, study design remained a significant predictor of heterogeneity. Global rates of cluster A, B and C personality disorders were 3.8% (95% CI 3.2, 4.4%), 2.8% (1.6, 3.7%) and 5.0% (4.2, 5.9%).ConclusionsPersonality disorders are prevalent globally. Nevertheless, pooled prevalence rates should be interpreted with caution due to high levels of heterogeneity. More large-scale studies with standardised methodologies are now needed to increase our understanding of population needs and regional variations.


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