This seminar was the first in a series on research by the African Centre of Excellence for Inequality Research (ACEIR) on the impact of fiscal policy on both inequality and poverty. Such analysis can illustrate if government taxes and social spending have a positive impact on income inequality and poverty in a particular country. The seminar set 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. Presented by Jon Jellema, key findings from a South Africa study on the impact of taxes and transfers on poverty and income distribution will be shared 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. 

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.