About Us
The International Center for Public Policy (ICePP) is an interdisciplinary public policy research center that engages over 20 faculty members from the Department of Economics and the Department of Public Management and Policy within the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies (AYSPS) and other departments at Georgia State University, including the Department of Political Science. We house a staff that consists of a management team, Ph.D. senior research associates and administrators dedicated to center work.
The center pursues its mission through internationally oriented research, academic programs, and technical assistance and training activities for developing countries.
The core expertise of the center lies in economics and fiscal policy analysis. Due to their comprehensive nature, fiscal policy reforms often require consideration of a large number of related fiscal aspects, including reform of the tax structure, tax administration, budget management, pension reform, and intergovernmental fiscal relations. Although many practitioners only specialize on a particular piece of the fiscal system, the depth and breadth of ICePP allows us to take into account both the individual components of the fiscal system, as well as the architecture of the fiscal system as a whole.
In addition, in recent years ICePP has expanded its work to program evaluation measuring the efficiency of public expenditures and other evicence-based policy evaluation including field experiments and the utilization of quasi-experimental data and techniques with the goal of identifying policy interventions and approaches best suited to international development.
We serve a diverse client base, including multilateral donor agencies (e.g. USAID, World Bank, UNDP, ADB etc.) , foreign ministries, government organizations, legislative bodies and private institutions.
ICePP brings together the strengths of cutting-edge technical expertise, extensive real-world policy experience, and solid project management capabilities. Unlike many of our competitors, the success of ICePP reflects the breadth and depth of the technical expertise that we can draw upon. The Andrew Young School’s faculty are leading experts in economics and public policy and have authored books, published in major academic and technical journals, and have extensive experience in designing and implementing technical assistance and training programs. In contrast to many academic researchers, ICePP faculty have extensive experience in resolving real-world policy challenges, with combined work experience in over 70 developing and transition economies around the world.
At the same time, ICePP’s international technical assistance and training efforts uniquely complement the academic research and the educational mission of the Andrew Young School. The exposure to international policy challenges that ICePP brings to the school, as well as the interaction with government leaders and policymakers from around the world, enriches the school’s academic environment and deepens the Andrew Young School’s commitment to resolving international policy challenges.
ICePP has built a strong visiting scholars program. We host numerous international scholars and policymakers as visiting scholars in public policy for short- or long-term exchanges through a variety of fellowship and exchange programs as well as our own funds. We have hosted over 40 scholars since 2007.
In addition to the various books, peer reviewed journal articles and policy reports generated by our faculty and research associates, ICePP publishes a working paper series and occasional papers in order to stimulate discussion on a wide variety of fiscal topics in transitional and developing countries. These papers have included research from Georgia State faculty, research associates, and graduate students, as well as external professors, policymakers and government officials who have participated in ICePP research activities. The working papers have focused on a wide variety of research topics that include, but are not limited to: tax morale, tax evasion, tax policy, tax compliance, income taxation, fiscal decentralization, fiscal transfer policy, income and revenue distribution, property taxation, and local government and autonomy. Since 1997, we have published over 300 working papers. Our working paper series has received over 40,000 downloads and over a 100,000 abstract views.
Since its inception in 1996, ICePP has raised over $40 million in external grants and funding.