The paper provides regional and global estimates of the costs and financing gaps of target 1.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to social protection and analyses a number of options for filling those financing gaps in the developing countries using domestic and external resources. The paper considers...

There is no question that the salience of tax reform in Brazil is high. It has become common to point out the country’s low quality of public services and high level of taxes, at least from the view of the country’s “middle class” and poorer income groups. In this...

In 2015, leaders of all countries committed to “eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere” by 2030. In the past 25 years, the world has managed to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty. Yet despite this progress, at least 400 million people will still be living on...

The Social Outlook for Asia and the Pacific lays out new arguments and evidence for the critical and urgent need to increase investment in people, particularly in social protection. Developing countries in Asia and the Pacific only spend about 3.7 per cent of GDP on social protection, compared to...

En 2017, 82 % des richesses créées dans le monde ont bénéficié aux 1 % les plus riches, alors que les 50 % les plus pauvres n’en ont reçu que des miettes. La France n’échappe pas à cette tendance : les 10 % les plus riches détiennent plus de...

To encourage entrepreneurship and reduce social and tax evasion, the Government of France introduced a simplified mechanism in 2009. It facilitated the creation of micro-enterprises, collected taxes and encouraged affiliation of self-employed workers to the social security system. The scheme has led to the creation of 911,000 micro-enterprises till...

The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, on his mission to the United States of America from 1 to 15 December 2017. The purpose of the visit was to evaluate,...

Ten years since the global economic crisis, social and human rights protections have fallen victim to austerity measures in countries across the globe. Preventing another “lost decade” will require us to see human rights values not as merely collateral damage of economic policy, but as cogent and universal norms...

This paper presents the case for tax progressivity based on recent results in optimal tax theory. We consider the optimal progressivity of earnings taxation and whether capital income should be taxed. We critically discuss the academic research on these topics and when and how the results can be used...

Many discussions have taken place in Brazil about legislation pertaining to the Tax on Large Fortunes (Imposto sobre Grandes Fortunas—IGF). In the current scenario, with the country facing a second consecutive annual decrease in tax revenue, the subject of the implementation of the IGF is gaining some traction, with...

Globally, women perform the great majority of unpaid care work. This unjust distribution of labour has profound impacts on women’s human rights and is both a product and a driver of gender inequality. Despite the obligations of the State to ensure economic policies are non-discriminatory and prioritize human rights,...

The website makes the first comprehensive and transparent database of IMF-mandated policy reforms  freely available to interested researchers and civil society organizations. The database systematizes the 58,406 conditions applicable to IMF programmes over the 1980-2014 period. The data was extracted from countries’ loan agreements with the IMF. This resource enables...

Brazil, in the period after the great financial crisis of 2007–2008, presents a compelling case study of the interactions between fiscal policy and business cycles. The country is noteworthy not only for being one of the very few that dealt relatively well with the most acute stage of the...

This paper analyses the changes in orientation and composition of Brazilian fiscal policy, focusing on three recent periods and seeking to explore their relationship with economic performance. The first period (2005–2010) was characterised by fiscal expansion, with public investment and redistributive transfers as its main drivers. Economic performance was...

From the early 1990s many emerging and developing economies (EDEs) liberalized their capital accounts, allowing greater freedom for international lenders and investors to enter their markets, as well as for their residents to operate in international financial markets. Despite recurrent crises, liberalization has accelerated in the new millennium. Global...

This paper examines the mobilization of domestic resources for social development in Nicaragua, analysing the fiscal system, its main tool. The main argument of the paper is that many tax reforms that have taken place in Nicaragua since the 1970s have been motivated mainly by the objective to increase...

This synthesis paper brings together the research findings from four papers prepared by the Uganda team as a part of the UNRISD Politics of Domestic Resource Mobilization for Social Development project, which addresses three broad themes: bargaining and contestation, key relations, and institution building with regard to mobilizing resources...

En el presente estudio sobre la movilización de recursos domésticos para el desarrollo social se analiza el sector de la salud en Nicaragua desde 1972 hasta 2015. Se examinan las variaciones en las políticas que afectan el sector salud y su financiamiento, el papel de las instituciones, la fuerza...

It is often argued that social protection is not affordable or that government expenditure cuts are inevitable during adjustment periods. But there are alternatives, even in the poorest countries. This working paper offers eight options that should be explored to expand fiscal space and generate resources to achieve the...

La política fiscal tiene un rol central en la superación de las desigualdades socio-económicas y el cumplimiento de los derechos humanos. Su potencial rol redistributivo convierte a esta política en una herramienta única para lograr un modelo de desarrollo que tenga como ejes centrales la igualdad, los derechos humanos...

This report builds on the findings of the Open Budget Survey 2015, by taking a closer look at the 31 African countries included in the survey. It seeks to promote transparency and accountability in the use of government budgets in Africa. The rationale for this report is twofold. First,...

The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky,...

Este document analiza  los  cambios  en  la  relación  entre  el  estado  y  la  cooperación internacional  en  Bolivia  a  partir  de  2006.  La  hipótesis  de  inicio  sostiene  que Bolivia logró  una autonomía  económica  tal  con  la  bonanza  económica  registrada  desde  2006 que modificó  el marco de las  relaciones entre  el ...

Papua  New  Guinea  has  had  a diverse history  of  contestation  over  resource  revenues during  its past forty  years  since  independence. The  major  actors  have  been  the national and provincial level governments and politicians, international development agencies,  resources  companies  and  local  landowners  in  project  development areas. This paper explores the...

El presente documento analiza la movilización de recursos domésticos para el desarrollo social  desde  la  perspectiva  de  los  gobiernos  municipales  en  Bolivia.  Luego  de  dos décadas  de  descentralización  y seis años  de  autonomías,  las  brechas  sociales  entre municipios  siguen  siendo  profundas  y  se  explican,  en  parte,  por  la  debilidad ...