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Crony Capitalism, Collective Action, and ICT: Evidence from Kenyan Contract Farming

The shift from subsistence to commercial economies creates surplus, but often induces conflict over it. Under extractive institutions and weak contract enforcement, crony capitalism may emerge and limit the benefits of modernization.

Working Paper
15 Oct 2019

Harnessing ICT to Increase Agricultural Production: Evidence From Kenya

Sending SMS messages with agricultural advice to smallholder farmers increased yields by 11.5% relative to a control group with no messages. These effects are concentrated among farmers who had no agronomy training and had little interaction with sugar cane company staff at baseline.

Working Paper
23 Sep 2019

Impacts of Industrial and Entrepreneurial Jobs on Youth: 5-Year Evidence on Factory Job Offers and Cash Grants in Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, Blattman, Dercon and Franklin (2019) randomly assign mostly female jobseekers to receive an industrial job offer or an unconditional cash transfer, meant to spur self-employment.

Research Note
12 Sep 2019

Household Matters: Revisiting the Returns to Capital among Female Micro-entrepreneurs

Multiple field experiments report positive financial returns to capital shocks for male and not female microentrepreneurs. But these analyses overlook the fact that female entrepreneurs often reside with male entrepreneurs.

Journal Article
1 Sep 2019

Corruption and Firms

Colonnelli and Prem (2019) estimate the causal real economic effects of a randomized anticorruption crackdown on local governments in Brazil over the period 2003-2014.

Working Paper
1 Sep 2019

Financial Access Constraints, Misallocation and Firm Performance in the Zimbabwean Informal Manufacturing Sector

In this paper, Kamutando (2019) examines the link between financial constraints, misallocation and firm growth in the informal manufacturing sector in Zimbabwe.

Working Paper
1 Aug 2019

Exporting to Fragile States in Africa: Firm‐level Evidence

Chacha and Edwards (2019) analyses the effect of fragility in destination markets on firm export behavior and the role of firm size in mediating adverse outcomes.

Journal Article
1 Aug 2019

Chinese Investment in Africa: How Much Do We Know?

There is a widespread belief that China plays a fundamental role in African economies, but few rigorous empirical studies to back up this view.

Synthesis Paper
17 Jul 2019

Special Economic Zones: Lessons from the Global Experience

Special economic zones (SEZs) or industrial parks can be an effective instrument to promote industrialization and structural transformation, but only when implemented properly in the right context. More than 50 years of experience with special export zones yields a mixed picture.

Synthesis Paper
16 Jul 2019

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