The open access version of this article is available here at The World Bank Economic Review.
Abstract
This paper reports on the universe of garment-making firm owners in a Ghanaian district capital during the COVID-19 crisis. By July 2020, 80% of both male- and female-owned firms were operational. Using pre-pandemic data, we document that selection into persistent closure differs by gender. Consistent with a "cleansing effect" of recessions and highlighting the presence of marginal female entrepreneurs, female-owned firms that remain closed past the spring lockdown are negatively selected on pre-pandemic sales. The pre-pandemic sales distributions of female survivors and non-survivors are significantly different from each other. Female owners of non-operational firms exit to non-employment and experience large decreases in overall earnings. Persistently-closed male-owned firms are not selected on pre-pandemic firm characteristics. Instead, their owners are 36 percentage points more likely to have another income generating activity prior to the crisis and fully compensate for revenue losses in their core businesses with these alternative income generating activities.
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, 186 countries implemented direct cash transfers to households, and 181 introduced in-kind programs that lowered the cost of utilities such as electricity, water, transport, and mobile money.
Organizational and managerial structure plays an important role in the productivity difference among firms. However, studies that assessed the quality of firm management and its link with their performance are still scanty.
Research suggests that partisanship and social media usage correlate with belief in COVID-19 misinformation, and that misinformation shapes citizens’ willingness to get vaccinated.
This article studies the structural aggregate productivity growth (APG) decomposition with demand- and supply-side controls, determines comparative statics predictions for firms and economic outcomes, and examines patterns of input distortions.
Using data from the largest online job portal in Nigeria, we document: (a) gender differences in salary offers for jobs, and (b) the response of (a) to recessions.
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, 186 countries implemented direct cash transfers to households, and 181 introduced in-kind programs that lowered the cost of utilities such as electricity, water, transport, and mobile money.
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.