Tax Revenue Capacity Frontier

Estimates cross-country tax capacity frontiers using the ICTD/UNU-WIDER Government Revenue Dataset (GRD). Derives tax effort indices (actual/predicted revenue) following Gupta et al. (2007) stochastic frontier methodology. Tests Besley-Persson (2014) prediction that institutional quality and state capacity are the binding constraints on revenue mobilization in developing countries. Uses publicly available ICTD GRD cross-country panel.