Senegal

Unlocking Digital Potential: The Double-Edged Sword of Observability in Technology Adoption

Digital technologies are increasingly accessible in lower-income countries, potentially offering substantial productivity gains, but there’s a catch.

Research Note
10 Mar 2025

Can social media alleviate search and trust frictions in imports?

Search and trust frictions have historically made it hard for small firms in lower-income countries to buy inputs from foreign markets. Consider a clothing wholesaler in Senegal, who wants to start selling high quality European-made jeans.

Research Note
21 Jan 2025

Relational Frictions Along the Supply Chain: Evidence from Senegalese Traders

Search and trust frictions have historically made it hard for small firms in lower income countries to buy inputs from foreign markets. The growth in smartphone ownership and social media usage has the potential to alleviate these barriers.

Working Paper
21 Jan 2025

Asymmetric Information and Digital Technology Adoption: Evidence from Senegal

Digital technologies have the potential to increase firm productivity. However, they often come bundled with data observability, which can be a double-edged sword.

Working Paper
14 Jan 2025

Flood Risk and Differential Firm Investment: Evidence from Dakar, Senegal

In many urban communities in low- and middle-income countries, the start of the rainy season is not a welcome relief, but instead a source of persistent problems. Heavy rainfall, coupled with insufficient drainage and minimal urban planning results in regular, seasonal flooding of homes and businesses (Rentscheler et al. (2023)). In urban and suburban Dakar, rising floodwaters pose a multitude of challenges for people living in these areas by restricting movement, increasing the risk of disease, and causing death (C40 CFF (2021)).

Research Project
18 Dec 2024

Relational Frictions Along the Supply Chain: Evidence from a Randomised Experiment Among Senegalese Traders

This project is a randomised controlled trial designed to quantify and decompose the frictions in international trade (information asymmetries and contracting barriers) among Senegalese importers, using the derived estimates to understand relationship formation along the international supply chain.

Research Project
28 Oct 2024

Connections, Gender, and Access to State-Facilitated Private Sector Development: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Senegal

In developing countries, access to opportunities within the private sector are often unequally distributed. Advantages accrue to those with connections to the state or to those with privileged social status.

Working Paper
28 Jun 2024

Relational Frictions Along the Supply Chain: Evidence from a Randomised Experiment Among Senegalese Traders

This study seeks to examine the role played by information asymetries and contracting barriers in shaping international trade. 

Research Project
1 Sep 2023

Connections, Gender, and Access to State-Facilitated Private Sector Development: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Senegal

In developing countries, access to opportunities within the private sector are often unequally distributed. Advantages accrue to those with connections to the state or to those with privileged social status.

Research Note
22 Mar 2023

Firm size and mobility: descriptive evidence from the Senegalese formal sector, 2008-2020

Since 2008, the 10% largest firms in Senegal have consistently accounted for 90% of the total revenue of the private formal sector.

Research Note
13 Mar 2023

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