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Taxation and the Unequal Reach of the State: Mapping State Capacity in E cuador
Author(s) -
Harbers Imke
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
governance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.46
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1468-0491
pISSN - 0952-1895
DOI - 10.1111/gove.12117
Subject(s) - state (computer science) , measure (data warehouse) , scholarship , variation (astronomy) , set (abstract data type) , public economics , economics , econometrics , regional science , computer science , sociology , economic growth , data mining , physics , algorithm , astrophysics , programming language
Even though the unequal reach of the state has become an important concern in the literature on developing democracies in L atin A merica, empirical measures of intracountry variation in state capacity are scarce. So far, attempts to develop valid measures of the reach of the state have often been hampered by inadequate data. Leveraging insights from national‐level scholarship, this article proposes a tax‐based measure to capture such intracountry variation. Drawing on a comprehensive data set of municipal finance and estimates of economic activity derived from nighttime lights, it maps state capacity in E cuador. The article validates the measure on the basis of survey data collected by the L atin A merican Public Opinion Project. A multilevel analysis demonstrates that citizens tend to be more satisfied with the services provided by the state in municipalities with higher state capacity, which strengthens confidence that the measure picks up relevant differences.