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Taxation, Developmental State Capacity and Poverty Reduction

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Developmental Pathways to Poverty Reduction

Part of the book series: Developmental Pathways to Poverty Reduction ((POD))

Abstract

There is a general consensus that sustained economic growth is a necessary condition for sustained reduction in poverty (Page, 2005; Ravallion, 1997). Sustained economic growth and structural transformation is necessary for sustained increases in salaried employment, which historically is the main source of increases in the incomes of low-income groups as well as improving the empowerment of women (Sender, 2008). In turn, the construction and consolidation of a state that has the authority and legitimacy to secure property rights over growth-enhancing activities, maintain public order and mobilise resources is a necessary condition for growth. Much of the recent literature on the developmental state examines how successful late developers have intervened to promote growth, but has neglected to identify where the power and legitimacy of a state to enforce and change the rights and institutions, and to extract and mobilise the resources required to sustain development and growth comes from in the first place (Kohli, 1999).

This chapter was published in July 2009 in the International Journal of Social Welfare, 20(3), 270–9. It was based on a commissioned background paper for the UNRISD Report, Combating Poverty and Inequality: Structural Change, Social Policy and Politics. 2010. Geneva.

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Authors
  1. Jonathan Di John
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone

    Yusuf Bangura (Senior Research Associate) (Senior Research Associate)

  2. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Switzerland

    Yusuf Bangura (Senior Research Associate) (Senior Research Associate)

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© 2015 United Nations Research Institute for Social Development

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Di John, J. (2015). Taxation, Developmental State Capacity and Poverty Reduction. In: Bangura, Y. (eds) Developmental Pathways to Poverty Reduction. Developmental Pathways to Poverty Reduction. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137482549_3

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