Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes

584 items available

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9388

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Gender Wage Gap in Thailand

(Washington, DC, 2022-09) World Bank

The gender wage gap in Thailand is much less significant than in most countries in the world. The average hourly wage among female workers, in fact, slightly surpasses that of males. This highly equitable gender wage pattern is seen at all levels of the wage distribution. Female representation is also quite equal at all levels of wages; the likelihood of finding females in low-wage jobs is as high as in high-wage jobs. One important factor driving this gender wage parity is the higher educational attainment among female workers.
Challenging Entrenched Marital Power in South Africa

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-04-29) Arekapudi, Nisha ; Mazoni Silva Martins, Natália

This brief examines more than thirty years of legal reform aimed at removing husbands’ marital power at the expense of their wives from South African legislation. For decades, marital power relegated wives to a position akin to minors, with devastating effects on women’s economic empowerment. Removing the many components of this form of discrimination from national law has required not only a conducive political environment, but also sustained momentum from the women’s rights movement and selective, strategic litigation that challenges the varied effects. Such reforms have directly and positively affected women’s economic inclusion. While efforts to improve gender equality in South Africa are ongoing, the analysis offers important insights on optimal contexts for change, the role women play in advocacy efforts, and the benefits of reform for economic growth.
Aligning Data Governance with the Social Contract for Data to Promote Value, Trust, and Equity

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-03-01) World Bank

In a world where data are becoming an integral part of our lives, data governance has become essential to support the production, use and reuse of data in a safe, ethical, and secure manner. In effect, data governance enforces the social contract around data, by applying the principles of trust, value, and equity. This primer provides an overview of the different elements of a data governance framework as discussed in the World Development Report 2021, Data for Better Lives. The implementation of the different elements of the framework will be specific to a country context, informed by local norms, laws, and culture. Using this framework, a series of briefs accompanying this primer, will explore and review the data governance landscape in different regions with a view to facilitating the region’s pathway to a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery.
The Pandemic’s Extensive Reform Agenda: How Can the Development Community Contribute?

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-02-15) Smets, Lodewijk ; Record, Richard James Lowden

The COVID-19 crisis requires policy reforms on many fronts, from debt sustainability to climate-smart recovery. This Research & Policy brief draws on theory and empirical evidence to explore the opportunities for the international development community to support policy and institutional reform. The focus is on four dimensions of support: conditional financing, policy dialogue, analytical work, and political institutions. While budget support is important to close financing gaps, the Brief argues that high-quality analytical work and policy dialogue may be needed for sustained reform success. Although political institutions determine public policy, the Brief cautions that supporting changes in the political system may lead to unintended consequences. The Research & Policy brief concludes with a discussion and some avenues for future research in this field.
Opportunities to maximize the effectiveness of food and tobacco tax to help address Samoa NCD crisis

(Washington, DC, 2022) World Bank

Samoa is one of the first countries in the Pacific to introduce taxation measures to address Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs). The predicted probability of dying from NCDs between the ages of 30 and 70 years is more than double in Samoa compared to high-income nations in the Pacific region. Over several years, the Government of Samoa has imposed excise taxes on several products including cigarettes, alcohol, and sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs). There are plans to expand excise taxes to unhealthy products in 2023. This includes raising excise taxes on tobacco and SSBs and introducing import duty and/or excise taxes on imported high fat cuts of lamb, syrups, confectionery, biscuits, ice cream, and french fries. Simultaneously, there are plans to reduce and/or waive import duty on selected vegetables, fresh chicken, and bottled water. Therefore, in 2020, a nationally representative survey was conducted to generate baseline data to inform future tax measures.
Why Central Bank Independence Matters

(World Bank, Malaysia, 2021-11-30) Bandaogo, Mahama Samir

Deep economic crises - the global financial crisis and the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic - have put some strains on and rekindled an older debate about the costs and benefits of central bank Independence. Central banks have been accorded more independence since the 1970s, which has helped bring down and keep inflation low and reduced the risk of fiscal crises. However, as their interventions in the economy with unconventional policies expand further beyond their original mandate, especially those pertaining to financial stability, critics have called for more oversight of their activities. That is because some of the central banks’ newfound responsibilities such as financial stability does not have a precise and unambiguous target or measure, making accountability difficult. The evidence in support of central bank independence remains strong, as highlighted in this brief. However, in light of the expansion of central banks’ power, reforms should aim to institute oversight of the newfound powers.
Leadership Training Toolkit for State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs): Boards and Owners

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-06-30) World Bank ; International Finance Corporation

The Leadership Training Toolkit for State-Owned Enterprises (‘SOE Leadership Toolkit’) was developed jointly by the World Bank and IFC (World Bank Group) to support countries’ efforts to build capacity of State ownership entities, SOE boards, and SOE senior management. It addresses the growing need for curricula specifically adapted for SOEs, considering the significant role and impact of SOEs on public finances, the economy and delivery of public services. The SOE Leadership Toolkit is a global public good that can be used by different training providers, such as government training institutions, Institutes of Directors, corporate governance and ESG associations, and professional bodies or universities. It is designed to: • Advance corporate governance reforms by instilling in participants leadership values that can help them work within their companies or organizations to adopt the best practices • Foster a common understanding between state ownership and oversight entities and SOE leadership, by raising awareness of the respective roles and perspectives • Provide flexibility through a modular curriculum that allows a country and training institution to easily tailor programs to suit their specific context and target audience • Engage executive learners through experiential learning and interactive exercises, based on internationally recognized good practices and global priorities such as climate change and gender • Minimize training providers’ investment of time and resources for curriculum development by providing a comprehensive, standardized curriculum that includes handouts, and case studies The 15 training modules are structured in four parts. Each module includes specific topics, case studies and exercises. Cutting across these modules are four themes assuming an important place in today’s corporate governance landscape: 1) gender and diversity, 2) climate risk and resilience, 3) Maximizing Finance for Development, 4) corruption and integrity.
Disaggregated Survey Data on Taxation to Improve Policy Design: A Perspective from the Ethiopia Socioeconomic Survey (2018/19)

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06) Ambel, Alemayehu A. ; Komatsu, Hitomi ; Koolwal, Gayatri ; Tsegay, Asmelash H. ; Yonis, Manex B.

A disaggregated analysis of the tax burdens and economic needs of the most economically vulnerable - such as poor women and men, informal workers, and owners of micro- and small enterprises - is crucial for designing equitable and well-targeted tax and public spending policies. This is particularly important in low-income countries, where formal and informal tax systems often exist in parallel, and administrative data is sparse. Availability of data on tax payments by households and non-farm enterprises, individual-level employment and asset ownership, and contributions to community institutions and infrastructure programs can reveal important distributional implications for tax policy design going forward. This survey brief summarizes findings from the tax module of the nationally representative 2018-19 Ethiopia socioeconomic survey (ESS). The tax module covers different types of formal and informal taxes that households, businesses, and individuals pay, as well as informal contributions towards services and infrastructural improvements in the community. Findings from the multi-topic survey also reveal different tax burdens by socioeconomic and demographic groups, as well as across rural and urban areas, that are important for national tax policy design and targeting.
Gender Implications of Rural Land Use Fee and Agricultural Income Tax in Ethiopia

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06) Komatsu, Hitomi ; Ambel, Alemayehu A. ; Koolwal, Gayatri ; Yonis, Manex Bule

Land use fees and agricultural income tax in Ethiopia are levied on rural landholders according to the size of agricultural landholdings. Summarizing the evidence presented in the authors paper based on new, nationally-representative data on taxation of households and individual landholdings and rights in the Fourth Ethiopian Socioeconomic Survey, this brief discusses how area-based land taxes are regressive and the tax burdens for female-only households are larger than for dual-adult households. Social norms limiting women’s roles in agriculture and a gender agricultural productivity gap are likely to be a source of this gender bias. Lower tax rates for smallholders can reduce women’s tax burdens, but area-based land taxation would continue to be regressive.
State Capture Analysis: A How to Guide for Practitioners

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-05-17) Raballand, Gael ; Rijkers, Bob

This note describes how political economy analysis can be used to promote development, focusing specifically on state capture. It is intended to help practitioners within the World Bank execute and disseminate political economy analysis of state capture. It is not intended to be comprehensive but serves as a how-to guide for those not intimately familiar with the topic.