Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/90690 
Year of Publication: 
1998
Series/Report no.: 
WTO Staff Working Paper No. ERAD-97-06
Publisher: 
World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva
Abstract: 
In the 1970s, taxation of windfall profits from primary products and intervention in trade and production has tempted governments into expansionary fiscal policies while stifling the private sector and depressing growth. However, the experience of the recent coffee boom has so far been more favourable: those African countries which liberalized and left a large share of the windfall with the private sector, and which committed themselves to fiscal austerity via adjustment programs have shown better results in terms of fiscal stability, private sector responses and economic growth than countries which did not reform. These findings suggest that constraints on discretionary government policies are desirable, and domestic institutions and international commitments could serve such purpose.
Subjects: 
Commodity booms
terms of trade
political economy
fiscal policies
export taxes
public expenditure
savings and investment
Africa
JEL: 
E62
F13
H30
O55
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
135.5 kB
979.41 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.