March 15, 2018, I received an email that made me happy. The email says:
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Dear Marilo Meta,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been registered to attend the 2018 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and to participate in the Civil Society Policy Forum (CSPF) that will take place in Washington, DC from April 17-20, 2018.
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April 16, 4:45 pm almost finished work at Open Government Partnership, I printed the acceptance letter.
April 17, 09:10 am, I took the badge at the Registration Desk, located in the World Bank Group I Building, 1850 I Street NW.
During the Spring Meeting, IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank Group, my attention was stolen by INEQUALITYINDEX, what took my attention was more the Albania index extracted from the “Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index”.
Ranging from 1 to 152, Albania holds the place 149th !!!
THE REPORT:
Albania
Spending #87
Tax #152
Labour #59
Overall #149
Despite being an upper middle-income country, Albania has some of the lowest levels of social spending in the world. It has the worst tax system in the CRI with high VAT and low Corporate Tax. Unions are treated reasonably, as are women in the workplace, but this too could be far better.
Key measures:
Social spending: The quantity and quality of government spending on public services like healthcare, education and social protection such as the provision of income support.
Progressive taxation: The extent to which governments redistribute wealth across society through taxes on the wealthiest individuals and companies.
Labour rights: The degree to which governments support workers’ rights, and particularly the rights of women in the workplace, through enforcing a minimum wage, equal pay, and paid parental leave; supporting the rights of trade unions; and providing protection against discrimination.
INDEX CONSTRUCTION
The Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index was constructed following a comprehensive data gathering exercise between May 2016 and April 2017. The Index is calculated for 152 countries, using approximately 21 different data points for each country, which are used to calculate eight different indicators, organized into three pillars. Other countries have not been included in the index because they lacked sufficient data for at least one indicator for each pillar. This methodology note describes in detail the data sources used for each pillar. This section describes the basic principles behind the Index and its overall construction. Core to developing this index was a lengthy and detailed data collection exercise using a wide range of data sources. Each individual data point has been referenced in an accompanying detailed data file and was triple checked by DFI staff. A systematic random checking process was carried out by the Oxfam Research Team. Oxfam country offices also reviewed the data used for their country, in some cases providing more up-to-date data where appropriate, with these additional data sources also referenced.
