About the conference.

How should tax systems be designed and how should expenditures be targeted to maximize welfare? Economics provides concepts and tools to analyze these questions, but in the real world, the design of tax and expenditure policies fundamentally depends on the structure of political institutions. 

This conference brings together leading researchers and policymakers to discuss recent research on the political economy of public finances with relevance for LMICs, including:

• The impact of political institutions, norms and preferences on taxes and expenditure
• The role of bureaucrats and of management practices in public-sector institutions 
• Subnational public finance and inter-government fiscal transfers
• Measurement of corruption and nepotism and novel monitoring interventions