This seminar is the first of three to present research on the impacts of fiscal policy on both inequality and poverty. 

Such analysis can illustrate if government taxes and social spending (such as social assistance grants, education, housing, and health care) have positive impacts on income inequality and poverty in a particular country.

The seminar sets the scene for the series by introducing the analytical framework used in such research and developed by the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Institute, Tulane University, USA.

The presenter, Jon Jellema, will also share key findings from a South Africa study on the impacts of taxes and transfers on poverty and income distribution as an example of such country-level studies. The study was conducted by the CEQ Institute in partnership with the National Treasury of South Africa, and ACEIR. It was authored by Maya Goldman, Ingrid Woollard, and Jon Jellema. Their paper applies the CEQ assessment framework to the 2014/15 Living Conditions Survey for South Africa.

In April and May, the focus shifts to ACEIR’s other CEQ assessments – for Ghana and Kenya – and subsequent capacity building on using the CEQ framework as well as extending the scope of analysis.

These seminars can be attended online and in person and are part of the weekly seminar series of the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.

About the presenter

Jon Jellema is an economist and fiscal impact specialist currently engaged with the Asian Development Bank’s Poverty and Social Analysis unit. He has also served as an economist with the World Bank in Indonesia and Pakistan, as deputy-director of the Commitment to Equity Institute (Tulane University), and as head of the Fiscal Policy and Development programme at the Global Development Network. Jon has focused on welfare, poverty, equity, and policy issues for the last decade and has provided technical and policy advice to governments and multilateral organisations in Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and Eastern Europe. He has led collaborations on applied methodologies for more precise estimation of the burdens created by tax instruments, a Child Centric CEQ Assessment framework, and an empirical Engendered CEQ methodology. Jon received his PhD in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.