The role of tax-benefit systems in protecting household incomes in Latin America during the COVID-19 pandemic

Arbeitspapier

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically affected household incomes around the world. In developed economies, pre-pandemic tax-benefit policies and emergency transfers mitigated to a large extent the negative income shock. However, less is known about the effect of government intervention on household incomes in developing countries. The aim of this paper is to assess in a comparative way the role of tax-benefit policies in protecting household incomes during the pandemic in seven Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. Departing from previous studies, we assess the effects both of expanded social assistance programmes and of automatic stabilizers (i.e. pre-pandemic taxes and benefits). We find an important cushioning effect of emergency policies at the bottom of the pre-pandemic income distribution, whereas automatic stabilizers are mostly present at the top of the distribution as a result of reduced social insurance and tax payments during the pandemic.

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-92-9267-258-4
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: WIDER Working Paper ; No. 2022/125

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Measurement and Analysis of Poverty ; Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs ; Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes ; Household Production and Intrahousehold Allocation
• Subject: taxes ; benefits ; COVID-19 ; Latin America ; automatic stabilizers

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Rodriguez, David ; Jara, H. Xavier ; Dondo, Mariana ; Arancibia Romero, Cristina ; Macas Romero, David ; Riella, Rebeca ; Urraburu, Joana ; Llamas, Linda ; Huesca Reynoso, Luis ; Torres, Javier ; Chang, Rodrigo
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
• (where): Helsinki
• (when): 2022

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2022/258-4
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/273922
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET