In cities with conservative norms or high crime, female workers may face greater restrictions on their physical mobility. This limits women’s labor market opportunities and the pool of workers that firms can attract.
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.
Using survey and interview data gathered from 13 countries in Africa, and bond issuance data from DataStream, this study reveals that corporate bond markets in Africa use reasonably modern trading infrastructure.
This project employs a field experiment to study how access to affordable electricity can improve the economic resilience of workers and firms to the coronavirus crisis.
Entrepreneurs in developing countries report that unreliable electricity imposes a serious constraint, yet little evidence exists on how blackouts impact the micro-firms that account for the majority of employment.
