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Agricultural loans in Benin

In Benin, as elsewhere in Africa, improving agricultural productivity is a priority for economic transformation and for food security, especially since annual population growth in Benin is higher than overall agricultural growth per year. Innovations offered by financial services providers who are relaxing smallholder farmers’ credit constraints have led to promising results.  

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Financial inclusion in Côte d’Ivoire

According to the African Development Bank (2013), the SME sector including microenterprises contributes about 33% of gross GDP and up to 45% of total employment in Africa – thus playing a major role in alleviating poverty.

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Community internet in Kenya

Many developing countries, including Kenya, are looking not only to expand access to ICT, but also to use the increased internet access to catalyze increased access to information for the education sector and improve the achievements of Kenya’s children.

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Mobile Banking in Ethiopia

The young, the educated and the better-off have been early adopters of mobile money technology. Mobile banking and mobile payment systems have been rapidly developing in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. In Ethiopia, only about 5.2% of the adult population uses mobile money. The first mobile money service in Ethiopia, M-BIRR, launched commercially in 2015.

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Decomposing Redistributive and Reranking Effects to Reveal Contributions of Taxes and Benefits

Since the 1970s when major methodological advancements in the measurement of inequality and progressivity emerged, there has been a huge empirical interest in evaluating how fiscal systems affect income distribution. This paper uses a  micro approach to calculate indices and their decompositions, by analyzing differences in incomes, taxes, and benefits for pairs of income units. 

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Commodity Dependence and Fiscal Capacity

The natural resource wealth of a country can be a curse or a blessing for the country’s economic development. This study investigates the relationship between commodity dependence and fiscal capacity. A detailed theoretical model is offered, which predicts that higher natural resource rents lead to lower investment in fiscal capacity.

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Fiscal Issues in Financial Crisis

Transition countries in the Balkans and neighboring regions are often constrained in their fiscal policies. This study looks into three dimensions: (i) sustainability in terms of the snowball effect and the level of public debt financial markets are comfortable with, (ii) structural and cyclical balances, and (ii) fiscal risks associated with implicit or contingent fiscal liabilities.

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The Effects of Flat Tax on Inequality and Informal Employment: The Case of Albania

This study applies a micro-simulation model that allows counting for both formal and informal employment, to investigate the implications of a flat-tax regime on informal employment

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Manufacturing Firms’ Performance in a Trade Liberalization Process: The Case of Uruguay

This study analyzes the impact of trade openness and regional integration, on manufacturing firms’ performance.

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Micro-Financing as a Means of Reducing Extreme Poverty: The Case of Senegal and The Gambia

This paper evaluates microfinance efforts in Senegal and The Gambia, and points to policy measures that can enhance poverty reduction through microfinance.

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