In contexts where formalization of firms and access to financial services is low, research shows that combining business registration with an information session at a bank including the offer of a business bank account leads to increased usage of financial services by entrepreneurs.
Providing entrepreneurs with business skills to help them grow their firms is important. But one size does not fit all - can better targeting of training programmes achieve greater returns to policymakers' investments?
This project investigates the extent and determinants of intra-national product market integration using a price approach in the context of Zambia, a low-income and landlocked country in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This randomized controlled trial in partnership with a development bank in the Philippines employs credit scoring for small and medium enterprise (SME) lending and measures the impact of credit on SME growth - both directly for firms receiving loans and indirectly for their competitors.
This study uses a Brazilian tax reform to analyse the production loss caused by turnover taxes, a type of tax common in developing countries that distorts transactions between firms.
In contexts where ownership as a mode of access to productive assets is limited, research shows that leasing has a strong positive impact on micro-entrepreneur performance and differentiation from competitors.
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.
