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Inadequate infrastructure impedes the productivity of manufacturing firms, with negative consequences for the wider economy. This study examines how water infrastructure copes with severe weather fluctuations and analyzes the effect of unreliable water supplies on the productivity of manufacturing firms, focusing predominately on firms in developing economies. This is achieved using firm-level data from World Bank Enterprise Surveys covering more than 16,000 manufacturing firms in a cross-section of 103 countries between 2009 and 2015. The study finds that periods of significantly low rainfall lead to higher water outages, and that the overall impact is driven by the effects of drought on low-income and lower-middle-income economies, with upper-middle-income and high-income economies benefitting from more resilient water infrastructure. Furthermore, the study finds that incidents of water outages lead to lower firm productivity for firms in less developed economies. For the average firm located in a low-income or lower-middle-income economy, one additional water outage incident per day in a typical month can lead to losses of approximately 8.2 percent of annual sales. This finding calls for increased policy focus on water infrastructure services, particularly in poorer countries where water infrastructure and firms seem to be particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of rainfall.

Business cycles and stabilization policies --- Common carriers industry --- Construction industry --- Drought --- Energy --- Energy policies and economics --- Environment --- Firm --- Firm productivity --- Firm-level analysis --- Food and beverage industry --- General manufacturing --- Hydrology --- Industry --- Macroeconomics and economic growth --- Natural disasters --- Plastics and rubber industry --- Pulp and paper industry --- Rainfall --- Textiles apparel and leather industry --- Water infrastructure --- Water resources --- Water supply and sanitation --- Water supply and systems

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This research explores the relationship between laws that discriminate on the basis of gender and the probability that a female-owned business begins operating in the informal sector. This is achieved by tracing the origins of formal businesses surveyed in the World Bank Enterprise Surveys and merging this with information on the level of legal equality between genders as measured by the Women, Business and the Law database. In addition, the research explores whether starting a business informally has any differential effect on subsequent firm performance depending on the gender of the owner(s). The results show that gender discriminatory laws increase the likelihood that firms with female owners will begin operations in the informal sector; as expected, this does not hold for enterprises that are solely owned by men. Furthermore, the research provides evidence that firms that began operations informally have poorer performance years later-a relationship that exists both for firms with female owners and for firms fully owned by men. The results show notable variation by region.

Discriminatory Law --- Enterprise Development and Reform --- Entrepreneurship --- Female-Owned Business --- Firm Performance --- Gender --- Gender and Development --- Gender and Law --- Gender and Social Development --- Gender Discrimination --- Inequality --- Informal Sector --- Labor Force Participation --- Labor Policies --- Law and Development --- Legal Discrimination --- Poverty Reduction --- Private Sector Development Law --- Women Entrepreneurs

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This research analyzes the evolution of maternity and paternity leave across the world, covering 190 countries over 52 years. The data show striking differences both within and between countries in how leave distribution for parents upon the birth of a child has evolved. The study finds that, across all regions, there have been notable increases in the number of leave days a mother can take. The absolute increase in the number of leave days for mothers has been greatest in Europe and Central Asia, followed by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development high-income economies. However, apart from the high-income economies, the number of leave days allocated to fathers has increased by only a fraction of the amount for mothers. An analysis of the correlations between relative leave allocation and women's labor market outcomes suggests that where the disparity in the allocation of leave days is greater, women's participation in the labor market may be lower. However, the study finds no evidence of any association between the gender gap in leave allocation and other labor market outcomes, including the gender wage gap and women's representation at the managerial level.

Maternity leave.

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This paper offers for the first time a global picture of gender discrimination by the law as it affects women's economic opportunity and charts the evolution of legal inequalities over five decades. Using the World Bank's newly extended Women, Business and the Law database, the paper documents large and persistent gender inequalities, especially with regard to equal pay and treatment of parenthood. The paper finds positive associations between improvements in the law and several labor market outcomes, and establishes a small, but over time increasing, causal impact of more equal laws on higher female labor force participation.

Employment --- Female Labor Force Participation --- Gender --- Gender and Development --- Gender and Law --- Gender and Social Development --- Gender Inequality --- Gender Wage Gap --- Inequality --- Labor and Employment Law --- Labor Law --- Labor Market --- Labor Markets --- Law --- Law and Development --- Poverty Reduction

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Firms of different sizes play different roles in organized markets and societies. This report focuses on the particular role that larger firms - firms with 100 employees or more - play in this ecosystem. It shows that larger firms in developing countries have distinct features that set them apart from the rest. These features are closely associated with productivity advantages - their ability not only to lower costs of production through economies of scale and scope, but also to invest in quality and reach demand. These distinct features of large firms translate into improved outcomes for their owners as well as for workers and smaller enterprises in their value chains. The fundamental challenge for economic development, however, is that production often does not reach economic scale in low- and middle-income countries. What is missing are larger, more productive, and outward-oriented firms. The scarcity of larger firms raises the question of how they are created in lower income contexts, and where frictions lie in this process. This report shows that four types of sponsors are often behind large firms: foreign firms creating new affiliates; domestic sponsors having experience with other large firms; governments; and entrepreneurs. Growth paths of large firms also show that distinguishing features of large firms are often in place from the time they are established. Therefore, supporting small firms to grow large is one means for creating large firms, but not sufficient on its own. To fill the 'missing top', governments should support the creation of new large firms from different sources, improve market contestability, and address operational barriers that disproportionally affect larger firms. The challenge lies in balancing the desire for efficiency and welfare benefits of large firms, while avoiding the inefficiencies that result when large firms acquire monopoly power. For development finance institutions seeking to promote a dynamic and competitive private sector, taking a value chain perspective and partnering with larger firms in each indutry - both incumbent firms and new challengers - can benefit firms across the size spectrum--

Business enterprises --- Size --- Size. --- Developing countries --- Economic policy.