Ideas for Growth:
Design and financing of social policy in Pakistan
Would the replacement of inefficient taxes and 'deficit financing' by a single rate value-added tax (VAT) be a more efficient option for Pakistan? What would be distributional effects of such a change be? These are two of the key research areas for the IGC's newest research project on the design and financing of social policy in Pakistan, overseen by Dr Ehtisham Ahmed. Click here to read the full summary of the project.
Structural transformation in Tanzania
The Government of Tanzania aims to transform the nation into a middle income country by 2025; however, what sort of structural transformation will Tanzania be expected to undergo as it grows to middle income status? A new IGC paper assembles data for a set of comparator countries that reached middle income status over the past 50 years and reviews the structure of their economies as they reached this target. It then analyses what would be required for Tanzania to transform into a country akin to these middle income comparator countries. A primary finding from this study is that, in order to cross the threshold into lower middle income status by 2025, Tanzania will need to sustain per capita growth of approximately 5% per year, equivalent to an overall GDP growth of approximately 7.7%, as well as significantly shift its economic structure away from agriculture towards manufacturing. Click here to read the paper.
IGC Bihar Growth conference
The IGC Bihar Growth conference on 14-15 December 2011 was a unique event, bringing together an eminent range of panellists from academia, government and the private sector. Five main sessions and two special lecture series were held on topics as diverse as education sector reforms, water resources management, health and rural development challenges, and fiscal policy and financial management. Seventeen presentations from the conference are now available here online.
Development and transformation in Sierra Leone
A technical workshop on development and transformation in Sierra Leone was held on 5-7 Dec 2011. The workshop, held at the request of President Koroma in April, comprised a group of civil society leaders coming together to organize a conference to discuss the future of Sierra Leone and to come to a consensus on the vision for Sierra Leone in 50 years. The purpose of this workshop was to craft the strategy for the main conference, slated to take place in mid-January 2012. The five main themes of the workshop were Economic Governance, Natural Resources, Political Governance, Private Sector Development, and Social Service Delivery. Click here to read more, including presentations from Tony Venables, Paul Collier and Omotunde Johnson.
The informal sector in Zambia
The IGC Zambia team, with the help of the Economics Association of Zambia and in collaboration with the Zambia Revenue Authority, held a workshop on the informal sector on the 16th of November in Lusaka, Zambia. The workshop consisted of two presentations. The first presentation was by Christopher Mulenga of the Zambia Revenue Authority entitled ‘SME Taxation in Zambia’. The second was by Manju Shah, the IGC consultant, entitled ‘Informal Sector in Zambia; Can it Disappear? Should it Disappear?’ The workshop was also an opportunity to re-introduce the IGC to relevant stakeholders in the wake of the new government. The workshop was chaired by Mr. Isaac Ngoma, president of the Economics Association of Zambia. Click here to read about the workshop in more detail, and view the presentations.
