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Kaiser, Kai

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Public finance

Last updated: January 31, 2023

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Understanding Variations in Local Conflict: Evidence and Implications from Indonesia
(2009) Barron, Patrick; Kaiser, Kai; Pradhan, Menno
Recent studies of large-scale "headline" conflicts have excluded consideration of local conflict, in large part due to the absence of representative data at low levels of geographic specification. This paper is a first attempt to correct for that by assessing the incidence, impacts, and patterns of local conflict in Indonesia. We employ a combination of qualitative fieldwork with an exploratory statistical analysis of the 2003 Village Potential Statistics collected by the Bureau of Statistics (Potensi Desa-PODES), which maps conflict across all of Indonesia's villages/neighborhoods. Violent conflict can be observed throughout the archipelago. The qualitative analysis shows that local conflicts vary in form and impacts across districts, and that local factors are key. The quantitative analysis, which excludes high conflict areas of Indonesia, confirms the importance of economic factors, with positive correlations between violent conflict and poverty, inequality, and variables measuring economic development. Clustering of ethnic groups and ill-defined property rights were also positively associated with violence.
From Pork to Performance
(World Bank, Washington, DC and AidData, 2016-06) Custer, Samantha; Rahemtulla, Hanif; Kaiser, Kai-Alexander; van den Brink, Rogier
From pork to performance illuminates the politics of how public resources are spent and the difficulty of the ‘last mile’ of service delivery. Crumbling facilities, absentee teachers, and roads to nowhere waste resources and retard development in many countries around the world. These failures in last mile service delivery underscore a more intractable development problem, a breakdown in accountability relationships, as politicians and civil servants act with impunity to extract private benefits at the expense of public goods. This study examines the extent to which technology and transparency can disrupt this low accountability status quo through turning information into collective action to improve government performance by strengthening the accountability relationships between politicians, service providers and citizens. In 2010, a new president came to power in the Philippines with a compelling message, ‘no corruption, no poverty’, and embraced open government as a vehicle to burn avenues of retreat and advance governance reforms. This study features examples from five sectors, education, reconstruction, roads, municipal development, and tax collection – where government champions sought to open up the black box of service delivery and use digital platforms to disclose data and strengthen accountability. This research provides guidance for public, private, and civil society leaders committed to using technology and transparency to curb pork-barrel politics and create digital dividends for their communities. The study combines rigorous political economy analysis with practical diagnostic tools and recommendations for open government initiatives to go deeper in the Philippines and around the world.
Intergovernmental Fiscal Management in Natural Resource-Rich Settings
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014) Chowdhurie-Aziz, Monali; Vinuela, Lorena; Kaiser, Kai
In resource-dependent countries, natural resources constitute one of the main assets available for financing local governments because the economy is not greatly diversified. The goal of this note is to highlight different critical dimensions of intergovernmental fiscal relations in these settings, present a survey of the range of arrangements used for managing resource rents across multiple levels of government, and synthesize basic principles or considerations in the implementation of revenue-sharing systems across different contexts. The design and implementation of measures to improve intergovernmental management of the oil, gas, and mining sector must consider the core policy objectives, fiscal context, and overall political structure. Paying attention to the constraints and political economy drivers that shape intergovernmental relations is critical to identify the feasible reforms and alternatives to improve performance that are available in a given country.
The Power of Public Investment Management : Transforming Resources into Assets for Growth
(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-09-30) Rajaram, Anand; Minh Le, Tuan; Kaiser, Kai; Kim, Jay-Hyung; Frank, Jonas
This publication consists of seven chapters: building a system for public investment management; a unified framework for public investment management; country experiences of public investment management; approaches to better project appraisal; public investment management under uncertainty; procurement and public investment management; and public investment management for public-private partnerships.
Technology for Results: Using Smartphones to Verify Results and Serve the Public in Vietnam’s Water Sector
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-07) Pena P. Weiss, Lilian; Kaiser, Kai; Chase, Claire; Hong, Hai Le Tuyen
The note serves to show how smartphones and digital platforms/workflows can be effectively used to collect and process validation data about decentralized/dispersed frontline results. The case study shows that World Bank operations can help bring this type of digital platform–based approach to more mainstream government processes, particularly in the context of Program for Results, in this case for the rural water supply and sanitation operations. The note documents both the checklist approach and the realization of a web-based platform established to disclose water and sanitation program planning documents and resources to the public, along with a call center to deal with customer questions and concerns. The experience speaks to the question of how more versatile technology (cloud platforms, smartphones) together with institutional drivers can set the stage for new generation digital platforms taking root in governments like Vietnam, where paper-based processes and reporting persist. While technology is clearly secondary to getting the people and process parts of the equation right, getting the technology wrong may adversely disrupt the reform process, strengthening opposition or perpetuating the status quo. The major value added for the World Bank may be to help design and demonstrate robust and versatile platforms, including as part of results-based operations aligning to country systems.
Sin Tax Reform in the Philippines: Transforming Public Finance, Health, and Governance for More Inclusive Development
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016-07-06) Kaiser, Kai; Bredenkamp, Caryn; Iglesias, Roberto
Excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products can be an effective instrument for promoting public health through curbing smoking and excessive drinking, while raising significant revenues for development priorities. In 2012, the Philippines successfully passed a landmark tobacco and alcohol tax reform—dubbed the “Sin Tax Law.” This book describes the design of the Philippines sin tax reform, documents the technical and political processes by which it came about, and assesses the impact that the reform has had after three years of implementation.
Rents to Riches? The Political Economy of Natural Resource-led Development
(World Bank, 2012) Barma, Naazneen H.; Kaiser, Kai; Le, Tuan Minh; Vinuela, Lorena
This volume emphasizes instead the notion of 'good fit,' taking the position that welfare-promoting policies, institutions, and governance must be tailored, at least in part, to a country's specific context. In this vein, the volume presents an analytical framework for assessing a country's political economy and institutional environment as it relates to natural resource management and, on that basis, it offers a substantial set of targeted prescriptions across the natural resource value chain that are technically sound and compatible with the identified underlying incentives. In other words, the objective of this book is to help development practitioners unravel the political economy dynamics surrounding natural resource management in order to complement their technically grounded engagement. To this end, the analytical approach has been two-pronged. First, case studies were conducted on the political economy of the hydrocarbon and mineral value chains in 13 countries in the Africa, East Asia and Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean regions. Second, in light of this empirical material, the book highlights the current frontier of applied political economy analysis on resource dependence. This volume synthesizes the empirical and the theoretical with an emphasis on illuminating the implications for operational engagement in resource-dependent settings.
The “Resource Curse” in MENA? Political Transitions, Resource Wealth, Economic Shocks, and Conflict Risk
(2011-07-01) Ross, Michael; Kaiser, Kai; Mazaheri, Nimah
The recent political upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa region have exposed growing concerns about conflict risk, political stability, and reform prospects across its societies. Given the prevalence of oil and gas resource endowments in the region, which a voluminous literature suggests can be associated with adverse development consequences, this paper examines the interplay between their associated rents and political economy trajectories. The contribution of the paper is threefold: first, to examine the quantitative evidence of violent conflict in the region since 1960; second, to provide a nuanced review of the regional case study literature on the relationship between resource endowments, political stability, and conflict risk; and third, to assess how prospective political transitions have implications for the World Bank Group's work in the region on public sector management and private sector development. The authors find that resources and regimes have intersected to provide stability and limited violent conflict in the region, but that these development patterns have yielded a set of policy choices and development patterns that are proving increasingly brittle and unsustainable. A major institutional challenge for reforms will be to consolidate a requisite degree of inter-temporal credibility and stability in these regimes, while expanding inclusiveness in state-society relations.
Resilience of an African Giant : Boosting Growth and Development in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(World Bank, 2012) Herderschee, Johannes; Kaiser, Kai-Alexander; Mukoko Samba, Daniel
The size, resources, and location of the Democratic Republic of Congo have an impact on all of Central Africa. The country has unexplored mining resources, massive agricultural potential, and a population of more than 60 million inhabitants. The second largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo borders nine countries and has complex economic, migration, and political relations with each of them. Its development has a significant impact on the economic growth and political stability of the continent. The international community has a long-standing involvement in the country. During the cold war, Western countries supported the Democratic Republic of Congo, despite its poor economic policies and political repression. Following the end of the cold war, foreign interest declined, reemerging around the turn of the century. In the last 10 years, the international community has invested considerable resources to stabilize the country through international peacekeeping efforts. Rising commodity prices have also ignited interest in the country's unexploited natural resources.
The Political Economy of Decentralization Reforms : Implications for Aid Effectiveness
(World Bank, 2011-06-24) Eaton, Kent; Kaiser, Kai; Smoke, Paul J.
This volume presents a preliminary framework designed to help international development partners consider the relevance of political economy issues for their programmatic support to decentralization and local government reform. The intention is neither to advocate decentralization in general or in any particular form, nor to presume or privilege any particular decentralization objective. Instead, the purpose is to document the potential value of better understanding how (primarily national and intergovernmental) political and institutional dynamics do or could affect the scope for realizing decentralization reforms aligned with commonly advocated service delivery, governance, and poverty reduction goals. The underlying premise is that systematic analysis of these issues can productively complement the dominantly technical diagnostic work typically carried out by development partners. Specifically, development partners can benefit from better understanding the practical significance of motives that drive politicians and bureaucrats to support or oppose reform at various stages of the decentralization process, from making an initial reform decision to detailed design and implementation. In addition, the framework addresses how these incentives can weaken, strengthen, or shift in response to changes in political and economic conditions that arise after reform begins. A general approach to conducting political economy of decentralization analysis is outlined, recognizing the need to tailor such analysis to the particular country context. This volume is based on literature reviews and knowledge derived from selected country experiences.