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This paper uses a dataset of more than 70,000 firms in over 100 countries to systematically study the use of different financing sources for new and young firms, in comparison to mature firms. The authors find that in all countries younger firms rely less on bank financing and more on informal financing. However, they also find that younger firms use more bank finance in countries with stronger rule of law and better credit information, and that the reliance of young firms on informal finance decreases with the availability of credit information. Overall, the results suggest that improvements to the legal environment and availability of credit information are disproportionately beneficial for promoting access to formal finance by young firms.

Access to external finance --- Access to Finance --- Access to formal finance --- Availability of credit --- Bank financing --- Bankruptcy and Resolution of Financial Distress --- Banks & Banking Reform --- Credit information --- Debt Markets --- Earnings --- Economic development --- Entrepreneur --- Entrepreneurial Finance --- Entrepreneurs --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial development --- Financial Intermediation --- Growth opportunities --- Informal finance --- Informal financing --- Internal funds --- International Bank --- Investment opportunities --- New business --- Profitability --- Small businesses

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Using survey data from 86,000 enterprises in 104 countries, including 17,000 enterprises in 31 Sub-Saharan African countries, this paper finds that average enterprise-level employment growth rates are remarkably similar across regions. This is true despite significant differences in the quality of the investment climate in which these enterprises operate. Objective measures of investment climate conditions (including the number of outages, the share of firms with bank loans, and others) indicate that conditions are most challenging within Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as for smaller enterprises. However, enterprises' employment in Sub-Saharan Africa is less sensitive to changes in access to infrastructure and finance relative to other low-income regions. This can be understood by looking at non-linear effects by firm size - and the finding that these size effects are particularly strong within Sub-Saharan Africa. Although unreliable infrastructure services and inadequate access to finance generally hamper growth, in Sub-Saharan Africa they are actually associated with higher employment growth rates among micro enterprises. Although employment growth is good news in Sub-Saharan Africa, that much of the expanded employment is in small, labor-intensive, less productive enterprises raises longer-run concerns about the efficiency of the allocation of resources and aggregate productivity growth in the region.

Access to Finance --- Access to finance --- Access to formal finance --- Access to services --- Bank loans --- Banks & Banking Reform --- Bribes --- Corruption --- Economies of scale --- Employment growth --- Entrepreneurs --- Exclusion --- External financing --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Greater access --- International bank --- Investment and Investment Climate --- Labor markets --- Labor Policies --- Lack of access --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Micro enterprises --- Micro-enterprises --- Microfinance --- Property rights --- Red tape --- Small enterprises --- Social Protections and Labor

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Growing research and policy interest focuses on the misallocation of output and factors of production in developing economies. This paper considers the possible misallocation of financial loans. Using plant-level data on the organized and unorganized sectors, the paper describes the temporal, geographic, and industry distributions of financial loans. The focus of the analysis is the hypothesis that land misallocation might be an important determinant of financial misallocation (for example, because of the role of land as collateral against loans). Using district-industry variations, the analysis finds evidence to support this hypothesis, although it does not find a total reduction in the intensity of financial loans or those being given to new entrants. The analysis also considers differences by gender of business owners and workers in firms. Although potential early gaps for businesses with substantial female employment have disappeared in the organized sector, a sizeable and persistent gap remains in the unorganized sector.

Access to banking --- Access to credit --- Access to external finance --- Access to finance --- Access to financial services --- Access to formal credit --- Access to formal finance --- Access to loans --- Asymmetric information --- Bank branches --- Bank credit --- Bank financing --- Bank loan --- Bank loans --- Banking --- Banking services --- Banks --- Banks and banking reform --- Biases --- Borrower --- Borrowers --- Borrowing --- Business owners --- Business plans --- Capital --- Co-operative banks --- Collateral --- Collateral requirements --- Collateral support --- Commercial banks --- Cost of capital --- Credit --- Credit bureaus --- Credit information --- Credit market --- Credit markets --- Credit policy --- Credit registries --- Credit risk --- Credit support --- Credit-worthiness --- Creditworthiness --- Debt collectors --- Debt markets --- Directed credit --- Disparities in access --- Econometrics --- Economic activity --- Economic growth --- Economic policy --- Economics --- Employment --- Enterprise --- Enterprise development --- Entrepreneur --- Entrepreneurs --- Entrepreneurship --- Equity --- Exclusion --- External finance --- External financing --- Finance and financial sector development --- Financial access --- Financial deepening --- Financial depth --- Financial development --- Financial institutions --- Financial integration --- Financial markets --- Financial sector --- Financial sector development --- Financial services --- Financial strength --- Financing --- Fixed assets --- Formal credit --- Formal finance --- Gender --- Gender inequality --- Government policy --- Governments --- Guarantee --- Households --- Housing --- Human capital --- Inequality --- Information sharing --- Infrastructure --- Intangible assets --- Interest expense --- Interest payment --- Interest rate --- Investment --- Issue of access --- Job creation --- Labor --- Labor market --- Labor markets --- Lack of collateral --- Land markets --- Lenders --- Lending --- Liberalization --- Loan --- Loan access --- Loan demand --- Loans --- Macroeconomics --- Marginal revenue --- Market value --- Markets --- Micro enterprises --- Micro-credit --- Micro-enterprises --- Micro-entrepreneurs --- Micro-finance --- Micro-finance institutions --- Microfinance --- Monetary policy --- Money lenders --- Net value --- Outreach --- Outstanding loan --- Outstanding loans --- Overdraft --- Personal assets --- Private enterprise --- Private enterprises --- Profitability --- Property --- Real estate --- Repossession --- Reserve bank of india --- Resource allocation --- Revenue --- Risk --- Risk perception --- Rural bank --- Rural bank branches --- Services --- Sizes of loan --- Small business --- Small business owners --- Small businesses --- Strategies --- Tangible assets --- Taxes --- Trade credit --- Trade credits --- Transport --- Union --- Urban areas --- Value --- Villages --- Water & industry --- Water resources --- Water supply --- Working capital