Jacqueline Coolidge
Over 25 years of professional experience with private sector
development and investment climate reform in developing and transition
countries, with a focus on policy, tax, legal, and regulatory reforms to improve
the investment climate/business enabling environment, at both the national and
sub-national levels. Leading expert in measurement of compliance costs for
businesses with regard to business taxes and licensing/regulation in developing
countries. Expertise in monitoring and evaluation of reforms
to improve investment climate/business enabling environment. Experience
with analysis of the impacts of policy/legal/tax and regulatory reforms on
compliance and investment (both foreign direct investment and domestic SME
growth). Statistical analysis of business investment and
formalization in developing and transition economies. Extensive
field experience in Central and Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southern Africa,
and the Caribbean.
Professional
History:
Sept. 2008 – present: Independent Consultant
Consultant to the World Bank Group, Investment
Climate Department (formerly Foreign Investment Advisory Service, FIAS) on tax
compliance cost surveys for businesses in South Africa, Ukraine, Peru, Yemen,
India (Bihar), Armenia, Lao PDR, Nepal, Burundi and Uzbekistan; evasion-risk
analysis for small businesses in Burundi, Yemen and Vietnam; licensing
compliance cost surveys for monitoring and evaluation of licensing reforms in
Bosnia, Serbia, Kenya and Madagascar; development of appropriate impact
indicators of investment climate reforms for tax and regulatory simplification
in developing and transition countries; assessment of monitoring and evaluation
capacity for IFC Advisory Services in the Africa region; authored manuals for
tax compliance cost surveys and for sub-national tax/regulatory reforms.
Consultant with
Jacobs and Associates on licensing reform in Mauritius and regulatory reform in
Vietnam.
Consultant with
Nexus Associates for mid-term evaluation of the Investment Climate Facility for
Africa.
Consultant with
Calgary University School of Public Policy for development of executive
programs in regulatory and business tax reform.
2003 – 2008: Lead
Investment Policy Officer, Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS), the
World Bank Group.
Responsible for FIAS work in monitoring and
evaluation of reforms in the Business Enabling Environment (from 2006). Development of standardized logical frameworks for reforms in the
area of business registration, licensing, tax compliance, and inspections,
including quantitative and qualitative indicators of outcomes and impacts of
such reforms. Responsible for quality control for
projects in the area of regulatory simplification (e.g., business tax
administration, company registration and licensing, inspections). Lead
responsibility for the area of removal of administrative barriers to investment
in client countries. Responsible for FIAS projects in Central and Eastern
Europe covering policy toward foreign direct investment, investment
legislation, investment incentives, and regulatory reform (2003 – 2006). Oversaw independent evaluation of the impact of FIAS’ activities
for the period 2004 – 2007.
Task Team Leader
for specific projects:
· Tax Compliance
Cost Survey for businesses in South Africa, Ukraine, Yemen, Peru
· Survey of
licensing compliance costs in Madagascar and Bosnia
· Investment
Legislation, Taxation and Promotion in Namibia
· Legislative
reform for businesses’ access to land in the Russian Federation
· Survey of
Businesses’ access to land in the Russian Federation
· Analysis of International
Entrepreneurship Database
· Case Study of
impact of reforms to improve the investment climate in Latvia
· Removal of
administrative barriers to investment in Poland
· Manual for
Removal of Administrative Barriers to Investment
1996 – 2003: Senior Investment Policy Officer,
FIAS
Responsible for FIAS projects covering policy toward foreign
direct investment in various countries in Europe, Africa, Middle East, and the
Caribbean. Development of methodology for identification and removal of
administrative barriers to investment (including company registration,
expatriate work permits, licensing, inspections, tax administration/compliance,
customs administration, businesses’ access to land, construction permits,
etc.). Regional Program Coordinator for
FIAS in Europe and Central Asia (1999 – 2003).
Task Team Leader
for specific projects:
· Identification
and Removal of Administrative Barriers to investment in the Russian Federation
(focus on oblast level; 7 Oblasts)
· Corporate tax
and investment incentives in Croatia
· Identification
and Removal of Administrative Barriers to Investment in Latvia
· Identification
and Removal of Administrative Barriers to Investment in Lithuania
· Legal and Tax
reforms to improve foreign direct investment in the Slovak Republic
· Legal and Tax
reforms to improve foreign direct investment in the Romania
· Corporate tax
and investment incentives in Bulgaria
· Diagnostic
update of the climate for FDI in Estonia
· Diagnostic
assessment of the climate for FDI in St. Kitts
· Diagnostic
assessment of the climate for FDI in Yemen
· Diagnostic
assessment of the climate for FDI in Ethiopia
1993 – 1996: Economist, Public and Private Enterprises
Division, East Africa Department, the World Bank
Responsible for World Bank projects on private sector development,
export development, and privatization in E. Africa.
Specific
projects:
· Ethiopia Private
Sector Development
· Eritrea
micro-finance
· Uganda PSD and
export development
· Kenya export
development
1991 – 1992: Independent
consultant, private sector development, infrastructure development, and
environmental analysis
Specific
projects:
· Economic
analysis of environmental damages to municipalities in Alaska from the Exxon Valdiz oil spill (background analysis for expert testimony
for court case against Exxon)
· Analysis of
private ownership/management/concessions for power and water utilities in
developing countries (University of Michigan, Department of Economics)
· Development of
non-traditional exports in Nicaragua (Louis Berger Int’l Inc.)
1988 – 1990: Regional Manager, E. Africa,
Louis Berger International, Inc.
Regional Manager for LBII projects in E. Africa,
based in Nairobi, Kenya. Projects included private sector development, road
maintenance, port development and rangelands development in Kenya, Somalia,
Tanzania and Uganda.
1985 – 1988: Economist, Louis Berger
International, Inc.
Projects included:
· evaluation of
USAID private sector development projects in the E. Caribbean (including SME
development, investment promotion, development of business advocacy
organizations, based in Barbados);
· agribusiness
development in Central America;
· transport sector
development in Ethiopia;
· water industry development in Somalia.
1984 – 1985: Independent
economic development consultant, Mogadishu, Somalia
Projects included water industry development, road
maintenance
1980 – 1982: U.S. Peace Corps, Botswana
Taught mathematics and development studies to secondary
school students in Mahalapye, Botswana
Date of birth: 1958
Nationality: U.S.A.
Education: Ph. D.(abd)/M.A., Economics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
1993
Master of Public
Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, 1984
B.A., International
Relations, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD, 1980
Languages: English – native language
French
– minimal
Russian
– minimal
Publications: