central america | Energy Policy design |

Fuel tax incidence in developing countries: the case of Costa Rica

Policy makers in developing countries need to balance an array of distributional, political, fiscal and environmental goals in deciding whether to raise fuel taxes. Our analysis demonstrates that distributional concerns need not trump competing goals.

Although fuel taxes are a practical means of curbing vehicular air pollution, congestion, and accidents in developing countries—all of which are typically major problems—they are often opposed on distributional grounds. Few studies have investigated the empirical validity of this argument in a developing country context. We use household survey data and income-outcome coefficients to analyze fuel tax incidence in Costa Rica.

EfD Authors

Sponsors

Keywords

Files

Centers

  • central america

Type of publication

  • Policy brief

Reference

This brief is based on results from: Blackman, Allen, Rebecca Osakwe, and Francisco Alpízar. “Fuel Tax Incidence in Developing Countries: the Case of Costa Rica.” Working Paper. Environment for Development Center for Central America: Turrialba, Costa Rica.

Publications

EfD Newsletter

Subscribe to our Newsletter service

FB & Twitter

Follow EfD on Twitter

Project info

Incidence of Fuel Taxes in Central America and the Caribbean

This research project analyze the incidence of a fuel taxes in four Central American and Caribbean [cont...]

See Also

Fuel Tax Incidence in Developing Countries: The Case of Costa Rica

Although fuel taxes are a practical means of curbing vehicular air pollution, congestion, and [cont...]

Essays on the Political Economy of Transport Regulation in Costa Rica

The general objective of the thesis is to analyze the political economy of the regulation of Costa [cont...]