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The Government of Rwanda has introduced several reforms since 2009 that have significantly improved the domestic business environment. One of the reforms is the one-stop shop for business registration. Making use of newly available administrative data sources such as tax and company registrations records, this paper sheds light on the effects of the introduction of the one-stop shop on company registrations, taxes, employment, and exports between 2008 and 2012. The paper finds sizable benefits to Rwanda's efforts, which are mostly driven by the registration of large and mid-sized companies, with a limited contribution from small and micro-sized ones. The use of a newly available data source highlights the potential uses of growing bodies of administrative data and their possible shortfalls.

Banks and Banking Reform --- Business One-Stop-Shop --- Business Taxation --- Debt Markets --- Emerging Markets --- Investment Promotion --- Taxation & Subsidies

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In April 2014, the Government of Benin launched the entreprenant status, a simplified and free legal regime offered to small informal businesses to enter the formal economy. This paper presents the short-term results of a randomized impact evaluation testing three different versions of the entreprenant status on business registration decisions, each version including incremental incentives to registration: (i) information on the new legal status and its benefits, (ii) business training, counseling services, and support to open a bank account, (iii) tax mediation services. The study included 3,600 informal businesses operating with a fixed location in Cotonou, Benin, which were randomly allocated between three treatment groups and one control group. One year after the program launch, all versions of the program had significant impact on formalization rates. The impact was 9.1 percentage points in the first treatment group; 13 percentage points in the second group; and 15.8 percentage points in the last group. The program had a higher impact on male business owners, with more education, operating outside Dantokpa Market, in sectors other than trade, and that before being offered the incentives to formalization had characteristics similar to businesses that were already formal. Data from a second follow-up survey, which is expected to take place in March 2016, will explore the impacts on other outcomes, like business performances or access to banking.

Access to bank --- Account --- Accounting --- Administration --- Administrative process --- Advertising --- Artisans --- Bank account --- Bank financing --- Bank loan --- Banking system --- Beneficiaries --- Bookkeeping --- Budget --- Business --- Business activity --- Business entry --- Business environment --- Business facilitation --- Business in development --- Business management --- Business performance --- Business plan --- Business registration --- Business regulation --- Business services --- Business training --- Cash transfers --- Certificate --- Chamber of commerce --- Check --- Collateral --- Commerce --- Commercial bank --- Commercial law --- Communication --- Competitiveness --- Competitiveness and competition policy --- Contact information --- Contract --- Cost --- Customers --- Data --- Database --- Debit card --- Debt markets --- Deposit --- Developing countries --- Direct costs --- Dummy variable --- E-business --- Economic activity --- Electricity --- Enabling environment --- Enterprise development --- Exchange --- Finance --- Finance and financial sector development --- Financial products --- Financial statements --- Firm performance --- Future --- Good --- Human capital --- ID --- Impact evaluation --- Impacts --- Implementation --- Implementing agencies --- Information --- Information banks --- Information services --- Inspection --- Institution --- International bank --- International development --- International finance --- Legal environment --- Levy --- Liability --- License --- Limited liability --- Link --- Loan --- Market --- Medium enterprises --- Microenterprises --- Mobile phone --- Monitoring --- Network --- New markets --- One-stop shop --- Open access --- Option --- Ownership --- Performance --- Phone --- Phone number --- Private sector development --- Productivity --- Profit --- Protocol --- Quality --- Quality of services --- Registration process --- Registration system --- Result --- Returns --- Sales --- Selling --- Share --- Small business --- Tax --- Tax exemption --- Tax forms --- Tax obligations --- Tax rate --- Tax regime --- Tax system --- Technical assistance --- Trade sector --- Trading --- Transparency --- Turnover --- Unfair competition --- Uses --- Web