| 1. |
- Brink, Anna, 1971, et al.
(författare)
-
Institutionerna och samhällsekonomin
- 1999
-
Ingår i: Demokratiutredningen (SOU 1999:83), Globalisering, Forskarvolym IX. ; , s. 63-103
-
Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
|
|
| 2. |
- Eriksson Baaz, Maria, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
-
Feeding the Horse : Unofficial Economic Activities within the Police Force in the DR Congo
- 2011
-
Ingår i: African Security. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1939-2206 .- 1939-2214. ; December 2011:Issue 4, s. 223-241
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Based on original interview material, this article addresses the organization of unofficial economic activities within the Congolese (Democratic Republic of the Congo) police force. In contrast to dominant assumptions in security sector reform discourses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which property violations tend to be portrayed as disorganized, ad-hoc activities, following from irregular and insufficient salaries, the article shows how property violations are highly organized with large portions flowing upward in the chain of command. However, the article also argues for the need to go beyond one-dimensional notions of “unrestrained predation” and simplistic dichotomies between civilians (victims) and police/military (predators). Furthermore, it argues for a more contextual analysis in which the core security sector institutions are situated more firmly in the political and economic context in which they operate.
|
|
| 3. |
- Eriksson Baaz, Maria, 1971, et al.
(författare)
-
Navigating 'taxation' on the Congo River: the interplay of legitimation and 'officialisation'
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Review of African Political Economy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0305-6244 .- 1740-1720. ; 45:156, s. 250-266
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Based on comprehensive research among boat operators and navy personnel working on the Congo River (DRC), this article explores how assessments of 'taxation' are shaped by the interplay of legitimation and 'officialisation'. As such, it draws upon and contributes to scholarly debates on taxpayers' attitudes towards taxation. While boat operators resent having to pay a plethora of authorities, including the navy, along the Congo River, the article demonstrates how they locate these 'taxes' on a spectrum from more to less legitimate. These assessments are shaped by various factors: authorities' legitimacy as 'measured' by their official mandate and importance; public and non-official service provision; and the deployment of symbols of 'stateness'. In interaction, these factors legitimise and 'officialise' 'taxes' by the navy that are prohibited in legislation. These findings caution against the a priori use of the labels official' and 'non-official', emphasising the need to better grasp these notions' emic understandings.
|
|
| 4. |
- Olsson, Ola, 1971, et al.
(författare)
-
Fiscal capacity in "post"-conflict states : Evidence from trade on Congo river
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Journal of Development Economics. - : Elsevier. - 0304-3878 .- 1872-6089. ; 146
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In many post-conflict states with a weak fiscal capacity, illicit domestic levies on trade remain a serious obstacle to economic development. In this paper, we explore the interplay between traders and authorities on Congo River - a key transport corridor in one of the world’s poorest and most conflict-ridden countries; DR Congo. We outline a general theoretical framework featuring transport operators who need to pass multiple taxing stations and negotiate over taxes with several authorities on their way to a central market place. We then examine empirically the organization, extent, and factors explaining the level of taxes charged by various authorities across stations, by collecting primary data from boat operators. Most of the de facto taxes charged on Congo River have no explicit support in laws or government regulations and have been characterized as a “fend for yourself”-system of funding. Our study shows that traders have to pass more than 10 stations downstream where about 20 different authorities charge taxes. In line with hold-up theory, we find that the average level of taxation tends to increase downstream closer to Kinshasa, but authorities that were explicitly prohibited from taxing in a recent decree instead extract more payments upstream. Our results illustrate a highly dysfunctional taxing regime that nonetheless is strikingly similar to anecdotal evidence of the situation on the Rhine before 1800. In the long run, a removal of domestic river taxation on Congo River should have the potential to raise trade substantially.
|
|
| 5. |
- Olsson, Ola, 1971, et al.
(författare)
-
Tolling on the River: Trade and Informal Taxation on the Congo
- 2016
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- It is by now generally agreed that government corruption is a serious impediment to economic growth. An intensive use of informal tolls and bribes on roads and waterways still prevail in several developing countries, hampering trade and economic development. On the basis of a general model of a trader travelling downstream past multiple stations and taxing authorities, we study the extent and magnitude of informal taxation on traders in Democratic Republic of Congo. River Congo is arguably one of the most important transportation routes in Africa in one of the world’s poorest countries. We show that informal tax payments per individual journey still make up about 14 percent of the variable costs and 9 times the monthly salary of a public official. Price discrimination in taxing is present in the sense that the value of the cargo is the main determinant of informal taxes paid whereas personal or other characteristics do not seem to have a strong impact. In line with hold-up theory, the average level of informal taxation tends to increase downstream closer to Kinshasa, but authorities that were explicitly banned from taxing instead extract more payments upstream.
|
|
| 6. |
- Sundin, Per-Ola, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
-
Measured glomerular filtration rate does not improve prediction of mortality by cystatin C and creatinine
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation. - : Oxford University Press. - 0931-0509 .- 1460-2385. ; 32:4, s. 663-670
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Cystatin C may add explanatory power for associations with mortality in combination with other filtration markers, possibly indicating pathways other than glomerular filtration rate (GFR). However, this has not been firmly established since interpretation of associations independent of measured GFR (mGFR) is limited by potential multicollinearity between markers of GFR. The primary aim of this study was to assess associations between cystatin C and mortality, independent of mGFR. A secondary aim was to evaluate the utility of combining cystatin C and creatinine to predict mortality risk.Methods: Cox regression was used to assess the associations of cystatin C and creatinine with mortality in 1157 individuals referred for assessment of plasma clearance of iohexol.Results: Since cystatin C and creatinine are inversely related to mGFR, cystatin C - 1 and creatinine - 1 were used. After adjustment for mGFR, lower cystatin C - 1 (higher cystatin C concentration) and higher creatinine - 1 (lower creatinine concentration) were independently associated with increased mortality. When nested models were compared, avoiding the potential influence of multicollinearity, the independence of the associations was supported. Among models combining the markers of GFR, adjusted for demographic factors and comorbidity, cystatin C - 1 and creatinine - 1 combined explained the largest proportion of variance in associations with mortality risk ( R 2 = 0.61). Addition of mGFR did not improve the model.Conclusions: Our results suggest that both creatinine and cystatin C have independent associations with mortality not explained entirely by mGFR and that mGFR does not offer a more precise mortality risk assessment than these endogenous filtration markers combined.
|
|
| 7. |
|
|
| 8. |
- Ahlerup, Pelle, 1977, et al.
(författare)
-
Social Capital vs Institutions in the Growth Process
- 2007
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Is social capital always important for economic growth? A number of recent micro studies suggest that interpersonal trust and social capital will have its greatest impact on economic performance when court institutions are relatively weak. The conventional wisdom from macro studies, however, is that social capital is unconditionally good for growth. On the basis of the micro evidence, we outline an investment game between a producer and a lender in an incomplete-contracts setting. A key insight is that social capital will have the greatest e¤ect on the total surplus from the game at lower levels of institutional strength and that the effect of social capital vanishes when institutions are very strong. When we bring this prediction to an empirical cross-country growth regression, it is shown that the marginal e¤ect of social capital (in the form of inter- personal trust) decreases with institutional strength. Our results imply that a one standard deviation rise in social capital in weakly institutionalized Nigeria should increase economic growth by 1.8 percentage points, whereas the same increase in social capital only increases growth by 0.3 percentage points in strongly institutionalized Canada.
|
|
| 9. |
- Ahlerup, Pelle, 1977, et al.
(författare)
-
Sustainable Economic Growth: A Critical Assessment of SDG 8.1
- 2023
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this report, we focus on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 8.1, stipulating that countries should pursue real GDP per capita growth rates that are in accordance with their national circumstances and that total GDP should grow by more than seven percent a year in the least developed countries. We start by briefly discussing the background of this target and then review some of the existing research on economic growth across the world, starting with growth theory and its predictions concerning the convergence of growth rates and income levels in the short and long term. We also review the extensive empirical work on cross-country income and growth regressions that have accumulated during the last three decades, focusing on recent (pre-covid) and historical patterns regarding the fulfillment of the SDG 8.1 targets. We show that a growth rate in total GDP of seven percent per year has only been observed in about 10 percent of all available country-year observations over history. Growth rates exceeding seven percent were relatively frequent among poor countries during 2000-2009 but not during 2009-2019. Since 2000, the relatively high average growth rates among poor countries have implied that their income levels have steadily converged towards those of richer countries, although at a slow pace. This pattern is manifested in longer periods of sustained growth episodes in poor countries and can probably be explained by successful policy reforms. We also show that about a third of all countries managed to have positive economic growth during 2010-19 while at the same time decreasing their emissions of CO2 from production (decoupling). For poor and rich countries alike, the growth prospects post-covid and after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are uncertain.
|
|
| 10. |
- Ahlerup, Pelle, 1977, et al.
(författare)
-
The Roots of Ethnic Diversity
- 2007
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The level of ethnic diversity is believed to have significant consequences for economic and political development within countries. In this article, we provide a theoretical and empirical analysis of the determinants of ethnic diversity in the world. We introduce a model of cultural and genetic drift where new ethnic groups endogenously emerge among peripheral populations as a response to an insufficient supply of public goods. In line with our model, we find that the duration of human settlements has a strong positive association with ethnic diversity. Ethnic diversity decreases with the length of modern state experience and with distance from the equator. Both "primordial" and "constructivist" hypotheses of ethnic fractionalization thus receive some support by our analysis.
|
|
