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Fiscal Reform and Development (LAWS70162)
Graduate coursework level 7Points: 12.5Not available in 2017
Overview
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Today, attention is increasingly focused on fiscal policy—taxing and spending—to deliver fair and sustainable economic development in countries across the globe. This subject examines how governments and citizens can raise revenue to fund poverty relief, redistribution and development goals. The subject considers the role of international institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in establishing global norms and rules to encourage fiscal reform in nation states and focuses on topical country and global case studies. It will equip participants from development, international law and tax backgrounds to analyse critically the law and policy of budgets, international tax systems and expenditure policy, and the interaction between the global and the national in fiscal reform.
Fiscal Reform and Development will provide an overview of budgets and fiscal systems, policy and law design principles and will then examine a number of case studies of topical fiscal challenges for particular countries.
Principal topics will include:
- Budget policy and laws, including fiscal balance or deficit, transparency and accountability laws
- Tax mix, statistics and structures; expenditure mechanisms, statistics and policy
- Fiscal policy principles: Sustainability, efficiency, fairness, administrability
- Tax law design and drafting
- Tax incentives for regional or international investment
- Tax havens and global administrative tax issues
- Domestic and international processes of fiscal reform.
Intended learning outcomes
A candidate who has successfully completed the subject should:
- Understand the link between governmental tax and expenditure policy, otherwise known as fiscal policy, and development
- Understand the goals of fiscal reform in the context of broader development goals
- Have a good general understanding of tax and spending mechanisms and policy
- Understand international and domestic processes of fiscal reform, and the institutions and experts involved in fiscal reform for development
- Be able to analyse critically some key blueprints for fiscal reform in developing countries, including Letters of Intent and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), developed by countries together with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund
- Be able to locate resources in respect of fiscal reform and development both generally and for particular countries, especially online resources
- Be able to analyse issues in fiscal reform and make recommendations in a particular development context.
Last updated: 3 November 2022