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Contributor : Profile

Name Surname

Laura Zimmermann

University of Georgia
lvzimmer@uga.edu

Laura Zimmermann is an assistant professor in the Departmentof Economics and the Department of International Affairs at the University of Georgia. She received her PhD and M.A. in Economics from the University ofMichigan, and a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) from theUniversity of Oxford. Her fields of interest are Development Economics, LabourEconomics, and Political Economy. Her research interests include the impacts ofpoverty-alleviation programs in developing countries, the effects of weathershocks and natural disasters, and the causes and consequences ofintra-household discrimination. Her recent work explores the labor market andpolitical economy impacts of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.Other papers and current projects focus on living arrangements and issues ofintra-household allocation of resources in India andSub-Saharan Africa, agricultural productivity in India, and early childdevelopment in Indonesia.

Posts by Laura Zimmermann

Do value-added taxes benefit firms? Evidence from the adoption of state-specific value-added taxes

Value-added tax (VAT) systems have grown popular in the last 30 years, especially among developing countries looking for ways to raise tax revenue efficiently. Using 2000-2012 data on product, state-s...

  • Articles

Are transparency and accountability enough? Open corruption and why it exists

While India’s federal anti-corruption ombudsmen have just taken up their work, awareness of the complexity of corruption is growing. This article studies whether highly accountable Indian village co...

  • Articles

Production responses and tax evasion with limited State capacity: Evidence from major reform in India

Although VAT eliminates the double taxation of inputs of the retail sales system, which enhances growth, it may increase the number of firms in the informal sector. This makes it very important, from ...

  • IGC Research on India

Production Responses and Tax Evasion with Limited State Capacity - Evidence from Major Reform in India

This project explores: what is the effect of switching from a retail sales tax to a VAT in a country with limited tax capacity and a large informal economy? The project explores this question through...

  • IGC Research on India

MNREGA's impact on rural labour markets

In this article, Laura Zimmermann, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Georgia, provides an overview of the research on the impact of the initial phase of MNREGA on rural labour mark...

  • Articles

Maoist violence and MNREGA

The spate of Maoist attacks on security personnel in Chhattisgarh this week serves as a reminder that Moaist insurgency is the single biggest internal security threat faced by India. This column anal...

  • Articles