Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes

697 items available

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

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Does Fiscal Policy Have a Role in Improving Child Well-Being in Ethiopia?
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-04-01) Ambel, Alemayehu A.; Belete, Getachew Yirga; Fiala, Oliver
Taxes, government spending, and public transfers affect the well-being of children and adults, albeit in different ways. There is, however, a dearth of empirical evidence on the impact of these policies on the well-being of children in low-income countries. This policy brief summarizes a recent study by Ambel, Belete, and Fiala (2024), which investigates the effects of fiscal actions on poverty and inequality among children in Ethiopia. The study applies the Commitment to Equity for Children (CEQ4C) methodology on survey data integrated with administrative data. It finds that the fiscal system in Ethiopia is progressive, poverty-reducing, and equalizing for children. However, there are observed differences in the effects of some of the fiscal policy components, as many of these effects are stronger for girls and children in rural areas. The study also highlights the essential role of public services in improving children’s well-being.
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.
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.
The Short-Run Economic Impact of Summer 2020 Protests in Addis Ababa: A Brief Look at the Evidence from a High-Frequency Phone Survey of Firms
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-12-21) Abebe, Girum; Bundervoet, Tom; Wieser, Christina
It is long recognized that instability is inimical to economic growth. Instability produces uncertainty, amplifies risks, undercuts high-return investment, and diverts public policy towards short-term and quick-fix policies. Instability, accompanied by violent protest and riots, not only impacts current productive assets but also thwarts physical and human capital accumulation, weakening future growth. In the last two years, non-state conflict, civil unrest, and violent protest was rife in Ethiopia. While such conflicts are known to be barriers to a peaceful political and economic transition, little is known about how they have impacted the private sector. In this brief, we examine the economic impact of one specific event that led to the outburst of violent protests on firms in Ethiopia. This paper also shows that the internet shutdown affected a large share of SML firms than own-account firms. Not surprisingly perhaps, young and large firms are more likely to run businesses that depend on an online presence. Authors also see sector differences in the impact of internet shutdown on businesses. About 12 percent of firms in the industry sector and 6 percent of firms in the service sector report to have experienced disruptions to the business due to the internet shutdown. There is, however, little variation in the impact of internet shutdown on male, and female-owned firms.
Monitoring COVID-19 Impacts on Firms in Ethiopia, Report No. 9: Firm Closure Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic - A Brief Look at the Evidence from HFPS-F
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10-15) Abebe, Girum; Bundervoet, Tom; Wieser, Christina
For the current study, six rounds of the HFPS-F survey are used, mainly focusing on the business closure module from round six. The six rounds are roughly three weeks apart and were implemented between April 15 and September 8, 2020 in Addis Ababa. The sampling strategy is explained in detail in a companion technical note. Six survey briefs highlighting the impact of the pandemic on firms’ operations and labor dynamics are already produced along with two special topic briefs focusing on the gendered difference of the pandemic and how firms were affected by the State of Emergency. The current brief examines firm closure in relation to firms direct or indirect exposure to the social and economic impacts of the pandemic. The good news is that most of the firms that are closed have stopped production or services temporarily with less than 2 percent of firm closures reported to be permanent in R6 (roughly August). The following analysis thus focuses on temporary closures and mostly rely on data from 436 firms, of which 108 were temporarily closed and 328 were open at the time of the R6 survey.
Monitoring COVID-19 Impacts on Households in Ethiopia, Report No. 5: Gendered Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ethiopia - Results from a High-Frequency Phone Survey of Households
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10-12) Ebrahim, Menaal; Ambel, Alemayehu A.; Buehren, Niklas; Bundervoet, Tom; Hailemicheal, Adiam Hagos; Abebe Tefera, Girum; Wieser, Christina
The analysis is based on a sample of 3,058 households in both urban and rural areas in all regions of Ethiopia. The 15-minute interview covers a diverse set of topics such as access to basic services, child educational activities during school closures, employment dynamics, household income and livelihood, income loss and coping strategies, food security and assistance received. In this brief, we focus on topics where gendered differences were striking.
The Labor Market Impacts of COVID-19 in Four African Countries (April to October 2020): Evidence from LSMS-Supported High‑Frequency Phone Surveys on COVID-19
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10) Contreras-Gonzalez, Ivette; Siwatu, Gbemisola Oseni; Palacios-Lopez, Amparo; Pieters, Janneke; Weber, Michael
As part of a global effort led by the World Bank to track the socio-economic impacts of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the living standards measurement study (LSMS) team supports high-frequency phone surveys in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda (among other countries). This brief focuses on the early impacts of COVID-19 on the labor market and their evolution from April to October 2020 using phone surveys in four African countries.
Monitoring COVID-19 Impacts on Households in Ethiopia, Report No. 4: Results from a High-Frequency Phone Survey of Households, Round 4
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-09-25) Wieser, Christina; Ambel, Alemayehu A.; Bundervoet, Tom; Haile, Asmelash
The Ethiopian high-frequency phone survey of households (HFPS-HH) allows for a better understanding of the effects of COVID-19 on households and provides data in almost real time to support new responses to the pandemic as they become necessary. The HFPS-HH builds on the national longitudinal Ethiopia Socioeconomic Survey (ESS) that the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) carried out in 2019 in collaboration with the World Bank. The HFPS-HH subsample of the ESS sample is representative of households with a working phone. The same households are tracked for six months, with selected respondents, typically household heads, completing phone-based interviews every three to four weeks. The datasets (vol.2 - 3) summarize the results of the fourth round of the HFPS-HH—including 2,878 households in both urban and rural areas in all regions of Ethiopia—implemented between July 27 and August 14, 2020.
Monitoring COVID-19 Impacts on Firms in Ethiopia, Report No. 8: Results from a High-Frequency Phone Survey of Firms
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-09-25) Bundervoet, Tom; Abebe, Girum; Wieser, Christina
This one-pager summarizes the results of the sixth round of the HFPS-F in Addis Ababa, implemented between August 17 and September 8, 2020. The information presented here is based on 331 firms that were still operational at the time of the survey. Firms that had temporarily closed because of the COVID pandemic were not interviewed in R6, which is a difference with the previous survey rounds (when temporarily closed firms were also interviewed). Firm closures will be looked at in detail in a separate brief.
Monitoring COVID-19 Impacts on Firms in Ethiopia, Report No. 7: How Ethiopian Firms are Adapting to the Pandemic? A Brief Look at the Evidence from HFPS-F
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-09-07) Abebe, Girum; Bundervoet, Tom; Wieser, Christina
The High-Frequency Phone Survey of Firms (HFPS-F) interviews a sample of firms in Addis Ababa every three weeks for a total of eight survey rounds. This high-frequency follow-up allows for a better understanding of the effects of and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic on firm operations, hiring and firing, and expectations of future operations and labor demand. The results of this survey will help the Job Creation Commission, established under the Prime Minister’s Office, in formulating a response package to support the private sector throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.