Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey measures entrepreneurial activity around the world. The database includes cross-country, time-series data on the number of total and newly registered businesses for 84 countries. This paper finds significant relationships between entrepreneurial activity and indicators of economic and financial development and growth, the quality of the legal and regulatory environment, and governance. The analysis shows the importance of electronic registration procedures to encourage greater business registration. These results can guide effective policymaking and deliver new capabilities for identifying the impact of reforms.

Business Environment --- Business in Development --- Business registration --- Businesses --- Capabilities --- Competitiveness and Competition Policy --- E-Business --- E-mail --- Economic Development --- Environment --- Environmental Economics and Policies --- Private Sector --- Private Sector Development --- Public Sector Development --- Registries --- Regulatory environment --- Results --- Web

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

A large share of the world's poor is self-employed. Accurate measurement of profits from microenterprises is therefore critical for studying poverty and inequality, measuring the returns to education, and evaluating the success of microfinance programs. But a myriad of problems plague the measurement of profits. The authors report on a variety of different experiments conducted to better understand the importance of some of these problems and to draw recommendations for collecting profit data. In particular, they (1) examine how far we can reconcile self-reported profits and reports of revenue minus expenses through more detailed questions; (2) examine recall errors in sales and report on the results of experiments which randomly allocated account books to firms; and (3) ask firms how much firms like theirs underreport sales in surveys like this, and have research assistants observe the firms at random times 15-16 times during a month to provide measures for comparison. The authors conclude that firms underreport revenues by about 30 percent, that account diaries have significant effects on both revenues and expenses but not on profits, and that simply asking profits provides a more accurate measure of firm profits than detailed questions on revenues and expenses.

Bank Policy --- Business Environment --- Business in Development --- Competitiveness and Competition Policy --- Debt Markets --- Developing countries --- Economic Theory and Research --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial support --- Fungible --- Living Standards --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Microenterprises --- Microfinance --- Private Sector Development --- Public Sector Development --- Returns --- Tax --- Trust Fund

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

A large share of the world's poor is self-employed. Accurate measurement of profits from microenterprises is therefore critical for studying poverty and inequality, measuring the returns to education, and evaluating the success of microfinance programs. But a myriad of problems plague the measurement of profits. The authors report on a variety of different experiments conducted to better understand the importance of some of these problems and to draw recommendations for collecting profit data. In particular, they (1) examine how far we can reconcile self-reported profits and reports of revenue minus expenses through more detailed questions; (2) examine recall errors in sales and report on the results of experiments which randomly allocated account books to firms; and (3) ask firms how much firms like theirs underreport sales in surveys like this, and have research assistants observe the firms at random times 15-16 times during a month to provide measures for comparison. The authors conclude that firms underreport revenues by about 30 percent, that account diaries have significant effects on both revenues and expenses but not on profits, and that simply asking profits provides a more accurate measure of firm profits than detailed questions on revenues and expenses.

Bank Policy --- Business Environment --- Business in Development --- Competitiveness and Competition Policy --- Debt Markets --- Developing countries --- Economic Theory and Research --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial support --- Fungible --- Living Standards --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Microenterprises --- Microfinance --- Private Sector Development --- Public Sector Development --- Returns --- Tax --- Trust Fund

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This study investigates trade effects of the regional liberalization of technical barriers to trade (TBTs) in the form of harmonization and mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) for testing procedures. The theoretical part of the paper is framed in terms of a heterogeneous firms approach. This paper adds to the existing literature by formalizing the effects of MRAs and harmonization initiatives on bilateral trade flows and by applying this new theoretical framework in the empirical part of the paper. The latter consists of a two-stage gravity estimation and investigates sectoral effects of TBT liberalization on parties to the agreement as well as excluded industrial and developing countries. It finds that MRAs have a strong positive influence on both export probabilities and trade volumes for partner countries. Regarding harmonization, results seem to suggest that the impact on parties to the agreement is negligible, however that on excluded OECD countries is large and positive. Third party developing countries do not seem to benefit from the market integration effect brought about by harmonization in other regions. Overall, effects on the probability that a new firm will export are much more pronounced than effects on the trade volumes of incumbent exporters.

Asymmetric Information --- Bilateral Trade --- Competition Policy --- Consumer Protection --- Consumers --- Debt Markets --- E-Business --- Economic Theory and Research --- Emerging Markets --- Exports --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Fixed Costs --- Free Trade --- Goods --- Influence --- Inputs --- International Economics & Trade --- Labor Policies --- Law and Development --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Markets --- Markets and Market Access --- Negative Externalities --- Prices --- Private Sector Development --- Production --- Public Sector Development --- Regulatory Regimes --- Social Protections and Labor --- Tariff Barriers --- Theory --- Trade --- Trade and Regional Integration --- Trade Barriers --- Trade Law --- Trade Policy --- WTO