Kenya

Barriers to Private-Sector Arbitrage in Kenyan Maize Markets

Limited access to capital, risk of unpredictable price fluctuations, and the availability of more profitable alternatives may limit traders’ willingness to arbitrage away seasonal price fluctuations in African agricultural markets.

Research Note
24 Feb 2015

Kinship Taxation in the Lab and in the Field: Constraint to Microenterprise Growth?

By combining a lab-in-the-field approach and a randomised controlled trial, this study examines the pressure from family and friends to share income as a constraint to microenterprise growth. 

Research Project
19 Jan 2015

Product and Destination Shifting by Firms in International Trade: Evidence from Kenya’s Manufacturing Exporters

This project will develop an integrated firm transaction database for Kenyan firms in order to study firm productivity, entry and exit dynamics into international trade, and switching in product and destination space in response to a changing investment climate.

Research Project
21 Nov 2014

The Impacts of Microfranchising on Young Women in Nairobi

This project piloted the first ever randomized evaluation of ‘microfranchising,’ measuring the impact of a program intended to help young women in Nairobi launch small-scale franchise businesses.

Research Note
30 Sep 2014

Is Poor Management Holding Back African Development?

These researchers use their existing in-depth survey methodology to collect extensive management data on three African countries and Brazil and investigate differences in management practices and productivity across firms and countries.

Research Project
30 Jul 2014

Can Social Networks Direct Credit to Where it is Needed Most? The Impact of Social Underwriting in Microfinance

This project investigates the idea that microfinance lending staff hired from outside the borrowing communities are not able to identify borrowers with 'high-growth potential' as reliably as the direct peers of the borrowers. 

Research Project
15 Jul 2014

Barriers to Private Sector Arbitrage in Kenyan Maize Markets

As prices for staple foods fluctuate seasonally, there is room for arbitrage by entrepeneurs. This project investigates potential barriers to arbitrage, such as missing credit markets, government policies, high costs, or entrepreneurial attitudes to develop policy insights into removing these barriers. 

Research Project
11 Jul 2014

Management Information Systems and Firm Performance: Experimental Evidence From a Large Agribusiness Company in Kenya

By implementing two pilot studies on the use of communications technologies in a large agribusiness company in Kenya, the researchers examined the impact of innovations in management information systems on firm performance.

Research Project
18 Jun 2014

The Impacts of Microfranchising on Young Women in Nairobi

This project undertakes the first ever randomized evaluation of micro-franchising in Kenya, a policy intervention that connects unemployed young women with businesses through multi-person franchises.

Research Project
13 Jun 2014

Gender and Investment: Impact of the EAC Integration process on Cross Border Investment: A Case Study of Women Investors in the EAC Region

This case study of the cross-border investment of female entrepreneurs in the East African Community region aims to assess the impact of regional integration on the expansion of female-run enterprises and identify constraints on the growth of these enterprises.

Research Project
8 Jun 2014

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