Tax Systems, Economic Development, and Good Governance

2016 ◽  
pp. 156-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Savaş Çevik
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
Tax Regimes ◽  
Tax Systems ◽  
Tax Ratios ◽  
Tax Structures

The chapter examines tax structure and its relation to good governance and economic development in the MENA countries. First, it discusses how different tax systems and tax structures in the region compared with other countries. MENA region can be characterized with low level of tax-to-GDP ratio compared to other groups of countries. However, tax systems considerably diverge within the region. Most importantly, whether having hydrocarbon revenues meaningfully divides the region's countries with respect to tax composition, tax levels, tax ratios and tax regimes. Literature suggests that natural resource revenue is also an important determinant of governance and institutional development that have impact on economic development, while good governance, a more legitimate and responsive state is an essential factor for a more adequate level of tax effort. Therefore, the second section of the study examines the relationships between taxation and good governance with emphasis on the MENA region.

scholarly journals Fair Taxation in the Middle East and North Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Mansour ◽  
Pritha Mitra ◽  
Carlo Sdralevich ◽  
Andrew Jewell
Keyword(s):  
Value Added ◽  
Income Taxes ◽  
The State ◽  
Personal Income ◽  
Property Taxes ◽  
Political Transitions ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
Constructive Dialogue ◽  
Tax Regimes ◽  
Tax Systems

Fairness – and what governments can do about it – is at the forefront of economic and social debate all over the world. In MENA, this has been at the core of recent political transitions but has not been adequately addressed. This SDN explores how tax systems – a critical interface between the state and citizens – can play a role in meeting demands for greater economic fairness in MENA countries. The SDN finds that for countries with well-established non-hydrocarbon tax systems (mostly oil importers) reforms should focus on simplifying tax structures and introducing more progressivity of personal income taxes, broadening tax bases, and better designing and enforcing property taxes. Tax administration should be more efficient and user-friendly while simplifying tax regimes will reduce the scope for arbitrary implementation. MENA countries with less established non-hydrocarbon revenue systems can begin with a “starter pack” that includes introduction of low-rate value-added and corporate income taxes, excises, and property taxes while building up administrative capacity and taxation expertise together with plans for introducing a personal income tax. Across the region, effective communication, transparency, and constructive dialogue between the State and citizens are critical to the success of reforms.

Good governance in MENA countries

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Ojeda ◽  
Francesco Cavatorta
Keyword(s):  
Good Governance ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
The State ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Arab Spring

This chapter analyses the state of good governance following the main indicators elaborated by the World Bank in the MENA region. International institutions have been criticised for having unrealistic or unreliable criteria in relation to good governance; however this chapter argues that they do sufficiently represent what good governance should be about and in what kind of environment it should occur. The contention here is that the lack of good governance in the MENA region is not a story of poor achievement related to criteria or adaptability, but a much broader failure of international institutional policies in the developing world, but at the same time, local MENA political actors greatly contributed to such failure. There are a number of factors that explain the failure of good governance policies in the Middle East and North Africa and they are related to both structural weaknesses in the way in which they were thought out – erroneous theoretical assumptions – and to contingent issues related to their implementation on the ground. Finally, various studies on the state of governance and its indicators over the last decade, including the Arab Spring period, have demonstrated that the political, economic and social situation is no better than before the uprisings.

scholarly journals Governance and Financial Development: Evidence from the Middle East and North Africa Region

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Badry Hechmy
Keyword(s):  
Financial Development ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
Dynamic Panel Data ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Econometric Approach ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

Since the 1990s, the promotion of good governance has been a priority for major international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.  This article aims to estimate the effect of institutional development on financial development in MENA countries during the period 1996 to 2013.  Drawing on Demetriades and Luintel (1996) and Ito (2006), the econometric approach used is based on the GMM, the autocorrelation test for errors of Arellano and Bond (1991), and the over-identification test of Sargan for dynamic panel data. The results derived from this study show a considerable delay in financial development in MENA countries compared to several other emerging countries in Asia and Latin America. Furthermore, it shows a negative effect of institutional development on financial development.  This unexpected relationship between these two variables has two explanations. First, the delusory level of institutional development of some countries in the region actually remains under the threshold beyond which it begins to positively affect the financial sector. Second, the political unrest experienced by the region during the study period has encouraged the informal financial sector to the detriment of the formal sector.

scholarly journals GOOD GOVERNANCE AND NATURAL RESOURCE CURSE; WHICH HYPOTHESIS IS PREVAILING IN ASEAN ECONOMIES?

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54
Author(s):  
Deden Iskandar ◽  
Robertus Mulyo Hendarto ◽  
Adhevyo Reza
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
The Other ◽  
Natural Resource Curse ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
Control Of Corruption

This study aims to find the relevance of the natural resource curse and good governance hypothesis in ASEAN economies post-financial crises 1998. Employing Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), this study finds that good governance practices (Control of Corruption, Political Stability, and Voice and Accountability) play a role in the ASEAN economies after the great financial crisis. Thus, the hypothesis stating that good governance practices will improve economic development is confirmed. On the other hand, the observation of the natural resource curse hypothesis in ASEAN countries returns mixed results. The hypothesis states that natural resource abundance is associated with lower economic performance. This study finds that dependence on the natural resource by itself does not affect GDP. However, the natural resource curse occurs when countries with bad governance (low Control of Corruption) depend on agriculture resources. On the other hand, the natural resource becomes a blessing when the countries that rely on agriculture resources are supported with good governance practices in terms of strong Government Effectiveness, Political Stability, and Voice and Accountability.  Thus, the effect of natural resources on economic development depends on the quality of governance. This paper highlights the importance of observing the natural resource and good governance in interaction instead of in isolation and the relevance of disaggregating the indicators of good governance as well as natural resources.

Charismatic Movements, State Relations and Public Governance in Sierra Leone

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-256
Author(s):  
Joseph Bosco Bangura
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Church Development ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Socio Economic Development ◽  
State Relations ◽  
New Church Development ◽  
The Church

Sierra Leone has seen the rise of Charismatic movements that are bringing about greater levels of co-operation with the state. This new church development aims at renewing the Christian faith and projecting a more proactive role towards public governance. This ecclesial development shows that African Pentecostal/Charismatic theology appears to be moving away from the perceived isolationist theology that once separated the church from involvement with the rest of society. By reapplying the movement's eschatological beliefs, Charismatics are presenting themselves as moral crusaders who regard it as their responsibility to transform public governance. The article probes this relationship so that the Charismatic understanding of poverty, prosperity, good governance and socio-economic development in Sierra Leone can be more clearly established.

Commonalities and differences of tax systems in West Balkan countries Comparative analysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teuta Balliu ◽  
Aida Gaçe Llozana
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Foreign Direct Investments ◽  
Fiscal Policies ◽  
Fiscal Discipline ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Revenue Collection ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Tax Systems

Countries of former Yugoslavia and Albania are considered as countries with many common problems as well as changes, which in this context are regarded as insignificant. On their way towards development, these countries are characterized by common problem, among which the most sensitive have been and still remain, unemployment, increasingly compressed public administration, unjustified optimism when planning the budget, mismanagement of public finances and poor fiscal discipline which mostly depends on being or not an election year. In these countries we notice the lack of harmony between economic and fiscal policies and the real needs of the economy. This is seen as other major common ofWest Balkan countries. This similiarity of problems narrows the possibility of competition associated to the foreign investment absorbing capacity. But, which is the moacroeconomic picture in the countries of West Balkan? What are their tax systems? How much are the foreign direct investments? Does the tax system serve as a promoter for these invvestments? This paper represents a comparative analysis of the fiscal systems in the countries of this region. The subject of this paper is the protection with arguments of the economic and fiscal policy which are built for the economic development of a country. This because we are given that there are two types of experiences related to tax system, one of which handles taxes as instruments for revenue collection and the other as a promoter factor for economic development.

What Drives Banking Profitability During Financial Crisis and Political Turmoil? Evidence from the MENA Region

2021 ◽  
pp. 097491012110311
Author(s):  
Salma Zaiane ◽  
Fatma Ben Moussa
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
Generalized Method Of Moments ◽  
Bank Performance ◽  
Net Income ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
Conventional Banks ◽  
The Impact

The purpose of the study is to identify bank specific, macroeconomic, and stability determinants of both conventional and Islamic bank performance. We also try to identify evidence on the impact of financial crisis and political instability during the Arab Spring (AS) period. The study covers a sample of 123 banks (34 Islamic banks and 89 conventional banks from 13 Middle East and North Africa [MENA] countries) over the period 2000–2013. We use different proxies of performance as dependent variables: return on asset (ROA), return on equity (ROE), net income margin (NIM), and estimate several regressions using the dynamic generalized method of moments. Our results reveal that bank size, asset quality, specialization, and diversification are the major bank specific factors affecting performance of Islamic and conventional banks. Besides, macroeconomic indicators (GDP and inflation) and regulatory quality influence both types of banks differently. Finally, both the financial crisis and political instability negatively affect bank performance.

Party systems and ideological cleavages in the Middle East and North Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 135406881989429
Author(s):  
Abdullah Aydogan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Mena Countries

Previous studies have contrasted the political party systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with those in more democratic countries, raising three important points: (1) the religious–secular dimension, rather than the economic or social left–right, explains the underlying political party competition; (2) left-wing politics is relatively weaker than right-wing politics; and (3) parties that are traditionally known as rightist take left-leaning positions on numerous issue dimensions, and vice versa. Even though this particular literature on party politics in the MENA has greatly improved our understanding of political dynamics in the region, these studies have either lacked quantitative evidence to support these points or their evidence was limited to single-country cases. This study aims to address this issue by analyzing original expert survey data of the ideological positions of political parties in the MENA region. Results show that in addition to the religious–secular dimension, the economic left–right divide and the pace of political reforms are highly important dimensions. The study also provides numerous examples showing that the policy stances of leftist and rightist parties are significantly reversed when MENA countries are compared with more developed democracies.

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