Benefits on the Margin : Observations on Marginal Benefit Incidence

Benefit incidence analysis has become a popular tool over the past decade, especially for researchers at the World Bank. Despite or perhaps because of the popularity of this method, recent research has pointed out many of its limitations. One of th...

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Main Author:	Younger, Stephen D.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English en_US
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2014
Subjects:	ACCOUNTING ARTICLE BENEFICIARIES BENEFICIARY BENEFIT INCIDENCE ANALYSIS BENEFITS OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING BENEFITS OF PUBLIC SPENDING COMMODITY TAXATION DEMAND ANALYSIS DEMAND FOR SERVICES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS ECONOMETRICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS EXCESS DEMAND EXPENDITURES FISCAL ADJUSTMENT GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES GROSS EXPENDITURES HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE DEMAND HEALTH CARE FINANCING HEALTH CENTERS HEALTH EXPENDITURE HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN RESOURCES INCIDENCE ANALYSIS INCIDENCE METHOD INCIDENCE OF PUBLIC SPENDING INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INDEXES INSTRUMENT INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LIVING STANDARDS MACROECONOMIC POLICIES MARGINAL BENEFIT MARGINAL BENEFITS MARGINAL UTILITY MARGINAL UTILITY OF INCOME MONETARY FUND NUTRITION OPPORTUNITY COSTS OPTIMIZATION PERMANENT INCOME PERSONNEL TRAINING POLICY ANALYSIS POLICY CHANGE POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL POWER POLITICAL PROCESS POPULATION GROUPS POVERTY ALLEVIATION POVERTY REDUCTION PRICE CHANGE PRICE SUBSIDIES PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOLING PRIVATE PROVIDERS PROBABILITY PROGRAM EXPANSIONS PROGRAM PARTICIPATION PROGRAMS PUBLIC ECONOMICS PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PUBLIC FINANCE PUBLIC GOODS PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SCHOOLS PUBLIC SERVICE PUBLIC SERVICES PUBLIC SPENDING RESPECT RETURN RURAL AREAS RURAL POPULATION RURAL RESIDENTS SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SCHOOL FEES SCHOOL QUALITY SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN SECONDARY SCHOOL SECONDARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS SECONDARY SCHOOLING SECONDARY SCHOOLS SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL SECTOR SOCIAL SECTORS SOCIAL SECURITY SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM SOCIAL SERVICES SOCIAL STATUS SPOUSE TAX TAX INCIDENCE TEACHING MATERIALS TOTAL PUBLIC SPENDING TRANSPORTATION UNIFORMS URBAN AREAS USER FEES UTILITY FUNCTION UTILITY MAXIMIZATION VALUATION WELFARE ECONOMICS
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/01/17741871/benefits-margin-observations-marginal-benefit-incidence http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17170

id	okr-10986-17170
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-171702021-04-23T14:03:29Z Benefits on the Margin : Observations on Marginal Benefit Incidence Younger, Stephen D. ACCOUNTING ARTICLE BENEFICIARIES BENEFICIARY BENEFIT INCIDENCE ANALYSIS BENEFITS OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING BENEFITS OF PUBLIC SPENDING COMMODITY TAXATION DEMAND ANALYSIS DEMAND FOR SERVICES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS ECONOMETRICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS EXCESS DEMAND EXPENDITURES FISCAL ADJUSTMENT GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES GROSS EXPENDITURES HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE DEMAND HEALTH CARE FINANCING HEALTH CENTERS HEALTH EXPENDITURE HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN RESOURCES INCIDENCE ANALYSIS INCIDENCE METHOD INCIDENCE OF PUBLIC SPENDING INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INDEXES INSTRUMENT INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LIVING STANDARDS MACROECONOMIC POLICIES MARGINAL BENEFIT MARGINAL BENEFITS MARGINAL UTILITY MARGINAL UTILITY OF INCOME MONETARY FUND NUTRITION OPPORTUNITY COSTS OPTIMIZATION PERMANENT INCOME PERSONNEL TRAINING POLICY ANALYSIS POLICY CHANGE POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL POWER POLITICAL PROCESS POPULATION GROUPS POVERTY ALLEVIATION POVERTY REDUCTION PRICE CHANGE PRICE SUBSIDIES PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOLING PRIVATE PROVIDERS PROBABILITY PROGRAM EXPANSIONS PROGRAM PARTICIPATION PROGRAMS PUBLIC ECONOMICS PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PUBLIC FINANCE PUBLIC GOODS PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SCHOOLS PUBLIC SERVICE PUBLIC SERVICES PUBLIC SPENDING RESPECT RETURN RURAL AREAS RURAL POPULATION RURAL RESIDENTS SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SCHOOL FEES SCHOOL QUALITY SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN SECONDARY SCHOOL SECONDARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS SECONDARY SCHOOLING SECONDARY SCHOOLS SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL SECTOR SOCIAL SECTORS SOCIAL SECURITY SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM SOCIAL SERVICES SOCIAL STATUS SPOUSE TAX TAX INCIDENCE TEACHING MATERIALS TOTAL PUBLIC SPENDING TRANSPORTATION UNIFORMS URBAN AREAS USER FEES UTILITY FUNCTION UTILITY MAXIMIZATION VALUATION WELFARE ECONOMICS Benefit incidence analysis has become a popular tool over the past decade, especially for researchers at the World Bank. Despite or perhaps because of the popularity of this method, recent research has pointed out many of its limitations. One of the most common criticisms of benefit incidence analysis is that its description of average participation rates is not necessarily useful in guiding marginal changes in public spending policies. This article considers a variety of methods for analyzing the marginal benefit incidence of policy changes. A key conceptual point is that despite the fact that the various methods measure marginal incidence, they do not measure the same thing nor are they intended to do so. There are many possible policy changes and thus many margins of interest. Each method captures one of these and so is of interest for some analyses and inappropriate for others. Empirically, the precision of the methods differs substantially, with those relying on differenced data or aggregations of households yielding standard errors that are quite large relative to the estimated shares. 2014-02-26T15:26:30Z 2014-02-26T15:26:30Z 2003-01 Journal Article http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/01/17741871/benefits-margin-observations-marginal-benefit-incidence World Bank Economic Review http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17170 English en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English en_US
topic	ACCOUNTING ARTICLE BENEFICIARIES BENEFICIARY BENEFIT INCIDENCE ANALYSIS BENEFITS OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING BENEFITS OF PUBLIC SPENDING COMMODITY TAXATION DEMAND ANALYSIS DEMAND FOR SERVICES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS ECONOMETRICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS EXCESS DEMAND EXPENDITURES FISCAL ADJUSTMENT GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES GROSS EXPENDITURES HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE DEMAND HEALTH CARE FINANCING HEALTH CENTERS HEALTH EXPENDITURE HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN RESOURCES INCIDENCE ANALYSIS INCIDENCE METHOD INCIDENCE OF PUBLIC SPENDING INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INDEXES INSTRUMENT INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LIVING STANDARDS MACROECONOMIC POLICIES MARGINAL BENEFIT MARGINAL BENEFITS MARGINAL UTILITY MARGINAL UTILITY OF INCOME MONETARY FUND NUTRITION OPPORTUNITY COSTS OPTIMIZATION PERMANENT INCOME PERSONNEL TRAINING POLICY ANALYSIS POLICY CHANGE POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL POWER POLITICAL PROCESS POPULATION GROUPS POVERTY ALLEVIATION POVERTY REDUCTION PRICE CHANGE PRICE SUBSIDIES PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOLING PRIVATE PROVIDERS PROBABILITY PROGRAM EXPANSIONS PROGRAM PARTICIPATION PROGRAMS PUBLIC ECONOMICS PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PUBLIC FINANCE PUBLIC GOODS PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SCHOOLS PUBLIC SERVICE PUBLIC SERVICES PUBLIC SPENDING RESPECT RETURN RURAL AREAS RURAL POPULATION RURAL RESIDENTS SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SCHOOL FEES SCHOOL QUALITY SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN SECONDARY SCHOOL SECONDARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS SECONDARY SCHOOLING SECONDARY SCHOOLS SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL SECTOR SOCIAL SECTORS SOCIAL SECURITY SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM SOCIAL SERVICES SOCIAL STATUS SPOUSE TAX TAX INCIDENCE TEACHING MATERIALS TOTAL PUBLIC SPENDING TRANSPORTATION UNIFORMS URBAN AREAS USER FEES UTILITY FUNCTION UTILITY MAXIMIZATION VALUATION WELFARE ECONOMICS
spellingShingle	ACCOUNTING ARTICLE BENEFICIARIES BENEFICIARY BENEFIT INCIDENCE ANALYSIS BENEFITS OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING BENEFITS OF PUBLIC SPENDING COMMODITY TAXATION DEMAND ANALYSIS DEMAND FOR SERVICES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS ECONOMETRICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS EXCESS DEMAND EXPENDITURES FISCAL ADJUSTMENT GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES GROSS EXPENDITURES HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE DEMAND HEALTH CARE FINANCING HEALTH CENTERS HEALTH EXPENDITURE HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN RESOURCES INCIDENCE ANALYSIS INCIDENCE METHOD INCIDENCE OF PUBLIC SPENDING INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INDEXES INSTRUMENT INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LIVING STANDARDS MACROECONOMIC POLICIES MARGINAL BENEFIT MARGINAL BENEFITS MARGINAL UTILITY MARGINAL UTILITY OF INCOME MONETARY FUND NUTRITION OPPORTUNITY COSTS OPTIMIZATION PERMANENT INCOME PERSONNEL TRAINING POLICY ANALYSIS POLICY CHANGE POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL POWER POLITICAL PROCESS POPULATION GROUPS POVERTY ALLEVIATION POVERTY REDUCTION PRICE CHANGE PRICE SUBSIDIES PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOLING PRIVATE PROVIDERS PROBABILITY PROGRAM EXPANSIONS PROGRAM PARTICIPATION PROGRAMS PUBLIC ECONOMICS PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PUBLIC FINANCE PUBLIC GOODS PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SCHOOLS PUBLIC SERVICE PUBLIC SERVICES PUBLIC SPENDING RESPECT RETURN RURAL AREAS RURAL POPULATION RURAL RESIDENTS SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SCHOOL FEES SCHOOL QUALITY SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN SECONDARY SCHOOL SECONDARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS SECONDARY SCHOOLING SECONDARY SCHOOLS SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL SECTOR SOCIAL SECTORS SOCIAL SECURITY SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM SOCIAL SERVICES SOCIAL STATUS SPOUSE TAX TAX INCIDENCE TEACHING MATERIALS TOTAL PUBLIC SPENDING TRANSPORTATION UNIFORMS URBAN AREAS USER FEES UTILITY FUNCTION UTILITY MAXIMIZATION VALUATION WELFARE ECONOMICS Younger, Stephen D. Benefits on the Margin : Observations on Marginal Benefit Incidence
description	Benefit incidence analysis has become a popular tool over the past decade, especially for researchers at the World Bank. Despite or perhaps because of the popularity of this method, recent research has pointed out many of its limitations. One of the most common criticisms of benefit incidence analysis is that its description of average participation rates is not necessarily useful in guiding marginal changes in public spending policies. This article considers a variety of methods for analyzing the marginal benefit incidence of policy changes. A key conceptual point is that despite the fact that the various methods measure marginal incidence, they do not measure the same thing nor are they intended to do so. There are many possible policy changes and thus many margins of interest. Each method captures one of these and so is of interest for some analyses and inappropriate for others. Empirically, the precision of the methods differs substantially, with those relying on differenced data or aggregations of households yielding standard errors that are quite large relative to the estimated shares.
format	Journal Article
author	Younger, Stephen D.
author_facet	Younger, Stephen D.
author_sort	Younger, Stephen D.
title	Benefits on the Margin : Observations on Marginal Benefit Incidence
title_short	Benefits on the Margin : Observations on Marginal Benefit Incidence
title_full	Benefits on the Margin : Observations on Marginal Benefit Incidence
title_fullStr	Benefits on the Margin : Observations on Marginal Benefit Incidence
title_full_unstemmed	Benefits on the Margin : Observations on Marginal Benefit Incidence
title_sort	benefits on the margin : observations on marginal benefit incidence
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate	2014
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/01/17741871/benefits-margin-observations-marginal-benefit-incidence http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17170
_version_	1764433204010287104

Benefits on the Margin : Observations on Marginal Benefit Incidence

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