Distance between buyers and sellers can create information problems that pose a barrier to trade. By collecting new data on a sample of Nigerian importers, and connecting transaction details to trade process variables (such as whether the trader travelled), the researchers show that frequent, costly travel by Nigerian traders to meet with suppliers abroad is symptomatic of underlying information problems.
We collect hiring data from 799 private formal firms in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and leverage employment agencies to help firms match with more college-educated applicants.
This study tested different methods of surveying employees about workplace harassment and found that secure survey designs that ensure plausible deniability of responses to sensitive questions can help uncover harassment that would otherwise go unreported.
This research note examines the effect of the extreme drought, which is caused by El Niño on firms’ performance in food and beverage manufacturing sector in Ethiopia.
Firm-to-firm trade represents a large part of economic activity, but we know little about how effective firms are in finding good training partners. Do firm-to-firm search frictions lead to inefficient matches between suppliers and clients?
Female-owned businesses continue to be smaller and less profitable than male-owned firms. We conduct an RCT in Ghana on a sample of 1,771 growth-oriented female entrepreneurs to investigate the effect of online networking groups on firm performance.
