| Article ID: | iaor19982063 |
| Country: | United States |
| Volume: | 9 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Start Page Number: | 501 |
| End Page Number: | 515 |
| Publication Date: | Jan 1997 |
| Journal: | Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management |
| Authors: | Hicks Norman L., Lee Haeduck |
| Keywords: | economics, government, management, statistics: empirical, developing countries |
In this study, we attempt an empirical estimate of the incidence of public expenditures, taxes and subsidies in order to judge the impact that government policies have on the poor. Overall results indicate that expenditures and subsidies tend to be mildly regressive, but the tax system is mildly progressive. Thus, the overall effect of the government appears largely neutral; the progressivity of the tax system is offset by the regressivity of expenditures.