The rise of China in the global economy has been linked with negative impacts on employment across many high- and middle-income countries. However, evidence for African countries is limited. This paper...
This paper estimates the effect of electricity prices on firm performance, focusing on firm productivity, sales, and employment. Using the World Bank Business Pulse Survey data for a sample of 24 emerging...
This paper provides evidence on the nature of financial constraints faced by women entrepreneurs, especially in contexts of stringent social norms. Using micro-data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys...
This paper documents the life cycle of formal and informal plants using five waves of the Mexican establishment census. Formal plants begin operations with three times more workers than informal plants...
Firms’ ability to finance investments in physical and human capital and innovate through digital, green, and other technologies is central to productivity and economic growth. An extensive body of research...
Firms’ ability to finance investments in physical and human capital and innovate through digital, green, and other technologies is central to productivity and economic growth. An extensive body of research...
The Myanmar firm monitoring survey (Round 17) was conducted from April 5, 2024, to May 5, 2024, encompassing a nationally representative sample of 500 firms. The survey spanned various areas of Myanmar...
In April 2024, the share of firms reporting hiring activities was the highest reported in over 2 years. Likewise, the share of firms with laying-off activities declined compared to September 2023 but higher...
This paper leverages the novel methodology by Whited and Zhao (2021) to identify financial distortions and applies it to a sample of 24 European countries. The analyses reveal that less developed economies...
How firms in the developing world adapt to changes in weather extremes will play a key role in determining their nation’s economic growth. This survey of the recent microeconomics adaptation literature...
Economic zone programs are generally pursued to improve firms' performance within discrete areas by removing the constraints firms face. Whether or not they succeed in doing so is an empirical question...
This study documents the impacts of climate change on firm-level productivity by matching a globally comparable and standardized survey of nonagricultural firms covering 154 countries with climate data...
Zambia’s private sector must deliver quality jobs at scale to keep up with its expanding working age population, contribute to economic transformation, and reduce poverty. This entails both the creation...
This paper examines the role of firm dynamics in aggregate total factor productivity, job flows, and wage inequality in Ecuador. Utilizing a comprehensive employer-employee dataset, the paper documents...
This paper uses the construction of India's Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) highway to explore the impact of an exogenous increase in market access and competition across the firm life cycle and generates four...
This paper assesses the performance of Romanian state-owned enterprises with various degrees of ownership (minority owned with 10 to 24.9 percent stakes, minority owned with 25 to 49.9 percent stakes...
This paper examines the overall impact of exports while accounting for supply chain linkages on local labor market outcomes in the Arab Republic of Egypt between 2007 and 2018. The paper assesses the effects...
Using three rounds of the World Bank's Business Pulse Surveys in South Asia, this paper quantifies the relationship between informality and firms' investment and employment decisions. Accounting for multidimensionality...
Using three rounds of data from the Business Pulse Survey in South Asia, this paper studies the differential effects of the COVID-19 shock on informal firms. It also captures heterogeneity within informal...
Most crises have a disproportionately larger negative effect on micro-sized firms. Yet, the heterogeneity of impact within micro-sized firms is lesser known. Using five waves of the World Bank's Business...