This article analyzes the fiscal incidence of cash and in-kind transfers, taxes, and subsidies in Bolivia. Between 2007 and 2009, social spending as a share of gross domestic product rose by about three percentage points. In spite of this, fiscal policy in Bolivia has shown a low redistributive impact. The weak impact is mainly due to the presence of significant leakages in transfers to the nonpoor and to the small size of per beneficiary transfers. The impact of fiscal policy on poverty and income inequality could increase with better targeting to the poor, larger per capita benefits, and an increase in coverage and progressivity of the tax system.
FAM (Federación de Asociaciones Municipales). 2008. El desayuno escolar en Bolivia: Diagnóstico de situación. La Paz, Bolivia: FAM.
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LustigNoraCarolaPessinoScottJohn. 2014. “The Impact of Taxes and Social Spending on Inequality and Poverty in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay: Introduction to the Special Issue.” Public Finance Review42(3):287–303.
4.
LustigNoraHigginsSean. 2013. “Commitment to Equity Assessment: Estimating the Incidence of Social Spending, Subsidies and Taxes Handbook.”Commitment to Equity Working Paper No. 9, Commitment to Equity Database, New Orleans, LA.
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Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas Públicas. 2011. Dossier fiscal semestral 2011. La Paz, Bolivia: Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas Públicas.
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SEDLAC (Base de Datos Socioeconómicos para América Latina y El Caribe). 2011. Pobreza y crecimiento económico en América Latina. La Plata-Argentina. Accessed February, 2013. sedlac.econo.unlp.edu.ar.
