Africa: Taxation for Development: the Impact of the Ebola Epidemic On Citizen Support Across West Africa

27 July 2023
Afrobarometer (Accra)
press release By Begoña Cabeza Martínez and Shaun DA Costa

Health shock shifts attitudes in favour of taxation in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

We explore the impact of the Ebola epidemic on attitudes toward taxation for development in West Africa. Utilising representative surveys from before and after the peak of the crisis, we estimate the impact of Ebola using both objective (recorded case rates) and self-reported measures of exposure (knowing a friend/relative who was infected with/died from Ebola). In addition, we consider the indirect impact of Ebola on redistributive preferences through disruption to different domains of life, including school, work, social gatherings, and medical care. Our empirical analysis demonstrates that higher levels of Ebola exposure and disruption are associated with greater levels of support for taxation for development.

Begoña Cabeza Martínez Begoña Cabeza Martínez is a policy analyst at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.

Shaun Da Costa Shaun Da Costa is a postdoctoral researcher at the Paris School of Economics.

Read the original article on Afrobarometer.

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