Returns to capital in microenterprises : evidence from a field experiment

Returns to capital in microenterprises : evidence from a field experiment PDF Author: Christopher Woodruff, David McKenzie, Suresh de Mel
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 37

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Book Description
Abstract: Small and informal firms account for a large share of employment in developing countries. The rapid expansion of microfinance services is based on the belief that these firms have productive investment opportunities and can enjoy high returns to capital if given the opportunity. However, measuring the return to capital is complicated by unobserved factors such as entrepreneurial ability and demand shocks, which are likely to be correlated with capital stock. The authors use a randomized experiment to overcome this problem and to measure the return to capital for the average microenterprise in their sample, regardless of whether they apply for credit. They accomplish this by providing cash and equipment grants to small firms in Sri Lanka, and measuring the increase in profits arising from this exogenous (positive) shock to capital stock. After controlling for possible spillover effects, the authors find the average real return to capital to be 5.7 percent a month, substantially higher than the market interest rate. They then examine the heterogeneity of treatment effects to explore whether missing credit markets or missing insurance markets are the most likely cause of the high returns. Returns are found to vary with entrepreneurial ability and with measures of other sources of cash within the household, but not to vary with risk aversion or uncertainty.

Returns to capital in microenterprises : evidence from a field experiment

Returns to capital in microenterprises : evidence from a field experiment PDF Author: Christopher Woodruff, David McKenzie, Suresh de Mel
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 37

Get Book Here

Book Description
Abstract: Small and informal firms account for a large share of employment in developing countries. The rapid expansion of microfinance services is based on the belief that these firms have productive investment opportunities and can enjoy high returns to capital if given the opportunity. However, measuring the return to capital is complicated by unobserved factors such as entrepreneurial ability and demand shocks, which are likely to be correlated with capital stock. The authors use a randomized experiment to overcome this problem and to measure the return to capital for the average microenterprise in their sample, regardless of whether they apply for credit. They accomplish this by providing cash and equipment grants to small firms in Sri Lanka, and measuring the increase in profits arising from this exogenous (positive) shock to capital stock. After controlling for possible spillover effects, the authors find the average real return to capital to be 5.7 percent a month, substantially higher than the market interest rate. They then examine the heterogeneity of treatment effects to explore whether missing credit markets or missing insurance markets are the most likely cause of the high returns. Returns are found to vary with entrepreneurial ability and with measures of other sources of cash within the household, but not to vary with risk aversion or uncertainty.

International Differences in Entrepreneurship

International Differences in Entrepreneurship PDF Author: Josh Lerner
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226473104
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
Often considered one of the major forces behind economic growth and development, the entrepreneurial firm can accelerate the speed of innovation and dissemination of new technologies, thus increasing a country's competitive edge in the global market. As a result, cultivating a strong culture of entrepreneurial thinking has become a primary goal throughout the world. Surprisingly, there has been little systematic research or comparative analysis to show how the growth of entrepreneurship differs among countries in various stages of development. International Differences in Entrepreneurship fills this void by explaining how a country's institutional differences, cultural considerations, and personal characteristics can affect the role that entrepreneurs play in its economy. Developing an understanding of the origins of entrepreneurs as well as the choices they make and the complexity of their activities across countries and industries are of central importance to this volume. In addition, contributors consider how environmental factors of individual economies, such as market regulation, government subsidies for banks, and support for entrepreneurial culture affect the industry and the impact that entrepreneurs have on growth in developing nations.

Experimental Conversations

Experimental Conversations PDF Author: Timothy N. Ogden
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262551543
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
Discussions of the use and limits of randomized control trials, considering the power of theory, external validity, gaps in knowledge, and what issues matter. The practice of development economics has undergone something of a revolution as many economists have adopted new methods to answer perennial questions about the effectiveness of anti-poverty programs. In this book, prominent development economists discuss the use and impact of one of the most significant of these new methods, randomized control trials (RCTs) and field experiments. In extended interviews conducted over a period of several years, they explain their work and their thinking and consider the broader issues of how we learn about the world and how we can change it for the better. These conversations offer specialists and nonspecialists alike a unique opportunity to hear economists speak in their own words, free of the confines of a particular study or econometric esoterica. The economists describe how they apply research findings in the way they think about the world, revealing their ideas about the power of theory, external validity, gaps in knowledge, and what issues matter. Also included are interviews with RCT observers, critics, sponsors, consumers, and others. Each interview provides a brief biography of the interviewee. Thorough annotations offer background and explanations for key ideas and studies referred to in the conversations. Contributors Abhijit Banerjee, Nancy Birdsall, Chris Blattman, Alex Counts, Tyler Cowen, Angus Deaton, Frank DeGiovanni, Esther Duflo, Pascaline Dupas, Xavi Gine, Rachel Glennerster, Judy Gueron, Elie Hassenfeld, Dean Karlan, Michael Kremer, David McKenzie, Jonathan Morduch, Lant Pritchett, Jonathan Robinson, Antoinette Schoar, Dean Yang

Handbook of Development Economics

Handbook of Development Economics PDF Author: Dani Rodrick
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080931723
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 1066

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Book Description
What guidance does academic research really provide to economic policy development? The critical and analytical surveys in this volume investigate links between policies and outcomes by surveying work from broad macroeconomic policies to interventions in microfinance. Asserting that there are no universal correspondences between policies and outcomes, contributors demonstrate instead that only an intense familiarity with the development context and the universe of applicable economic models can generate successful policies. Getting cause-and-effect right is essential for policy design and implementation. With the goal of drawing researchers and policy makers closer, this volume highlights our increasing understanding of ways to combine economic theorizing with careful, thoughtful empirical work. - Presents an accurate, self-contained survey of the current state of the field - Summarizes the most recent discussions, and elucidates new developments - Although original material is also included, the main aim is the provision of comprehensive and accessible surveys

Working Hard, Working Poor

Working Hard, Working Poor PDF Author: Gary S. Fields
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0199794642
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Excellent books can be found on ending world poverty.

Employment and Development

Employment and Development PDF Author: Gary S. Fields
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192550217
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
Employment and Development brings together the contributions of 2014 IZA Prize in Labor Economics award winner Gary S. Fields to address global employment and poverty problems. Most of the poor in developing countries live in households in which people work, but still they are poor because the best available work pays so little. Employment and Development: How Work Can Lead From and Into Poverty questions how economic growth affects standards of living, how labor markets work in developing countries, and how different labor market policies affect well-being. Through a collection of essays, this book tackles major questions in development and labor economics. Who benefits from economic growth and who is hurt by economic decline? Why are distributional factors and labor market conditions improving in some countries but not in others? How do developing countries' labor markets work? How would labor market conditions change if different policies were to be put into effect? What are the welfare consequences of these changes? Through distributional analysis, Fields examines inequality, poverty, income mobility, and economic well-being, and through analysis of changing labor market conditions he examines employment and unemployment, employment composition, and labor earnings. By concentrating on the poor and understanding how the labor markets work for them and how their labor market earnings might be raised in response to different policy interventions, Fields addresses questions of first-order importance for human well-being.

Micro-Financing and the Economic Health of a Nation

Micro-Financing and the Economic Health of a Nation PDF Author: Bensson V Samuel MD PhD DBA CHCQM
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1664161481
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
A change in finance for low-income people is occurring around the world. The microfinance movement provides services on a wide scale by competing, financially self-sufficient institutions to the economically active poor. Microfinance has been credited for promoting the Millennium Development Goals, poverty reduction, women's empowerment, and many other social benefits. This extensive microfinance survey aims to bridge the gap between academic economists and practitioners in the current microfinance literature. Micro-financing and the Economic Health of a Nation set a precedent for future work in the sector as the premier book to provide a detailed analysis of housing microfinance worldwide. By addressing a number of issues, including lessons from informal markets, savings and insurance, the role of women, the position of subsidies, impact assessment, and management incentives, this book offers an overview of microfinance. This book reviews essential issues for foreign and domestic microfinance organizations that are considering expanding into housing and for providers of traditional housing loans that aim to provide their services to poor clients who lack collateral or regular income, with clear guidance for practitioners and policymakers. Micro-financing and the Economic Health of a Nation can be used by students in economics, public policy, and development studies. This volume offers a reasoned, moderate voice on the virtues and problems of microfinance.

Handbook of Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Handbook of Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship PDF Author: David B. Audretsch
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 9781849807760
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 529

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Book Description
This path-breaking Handbook analyses the foundations, social desirability, institutions and geography of innovation and entrepreneurship. Leading researchers use their outstanding expertise to investigate various aspects in the context of innovation and entrepreneurship such as growth, knowledge production and spillovers, technology transfer, the organization of the firm, industrial policy, financing, small firms and start-ups, and entrepreneurship education as well as the characteristics of the entrepreneur. There is much in this Handbook that will prove to be informative and stimulating, especially for academics and post-graduate students in economics and management. Those starting a PhD in innovation or entrepreneurship will find this book essential reading.

The Jordanian Labor Market

The Jordanian Labor Market PDF Author: Caroline Krafft
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192584928
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
Jordan stands in the middle of a turbulent region, experiencing substantial refugee flows and economic challenges due to the conflict and insecurity of its neighbors. The Jordanian Labor Market: Between Fragility and Resilience fills an enormous gap in our knowledge regarding the region's labor market during a period of substantial instability and new challenges for Jordan. Prior to the refugee crisis the Jordanian economy and labor market had been shifting in a positive direction. An enormous influx of Syrian refugees, however, created unanswered questions of how the region's labor market would fare. The Jordanian Labor Market leverages the 2016 Jordan Labor Market Panel Survey to provide answers to some of these questions. It offers an unprecedented opportunity to assess the challenges that Jordan faces. It addresses key economic and policy questions through unparalleled nationally representative date. The Jordanian Labor Market presents critical new insights into the status of migrants and refugees in Jordan. It examines key indicators of the labor market including labor supply, job creation, wages and inequality, and self-employment. It also looks at transitions across the life course in Jordan such as education, school-to-work transition, marriage and fertility, housing and new households, and social insurance and retirement. These factors provide important insight into important challenges Jordan's economy and society faces.

Resilience and Recovery in Asian Disasters

Resilience and Recovery in Asian Disasters PDF Author: Daniel P. Aldrich
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 4431550224
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
This book establishes a new, holistic framework for disaster recovery and mitigation, providing a multidisciplinary perspective on the field of risk management strategies and societal and communal resilience. Going beyond narrow approaches that are all too prevalent in the field, this work builds on an optimum combination of community-level networks, private market mechanisms and state-based assistance strategies. Its chapters describe best practices in the field and elucidate cutting-edge research on recovery, highlighting the interaction between government, industry and civil society. The book uses new data from a number of recent disasters across southeast and east Asia to understand the interactions among residents, the state, and catastrophe, drawing on events in Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, China and Thailand. Grounded in theories of risk mitigation and empirical research, the book provides practical guidance for decision makers along with future research directions for scholars. The Asian region is highly prone to natural disasters which devastate large and mostly poor populations. This book deals with some of the root issues underlying the continued vulnerability of these societies to catastrophic shocks. The book is unusual in that it comprehensively covers resilience and fragilities from community levels to market mechanisms and governance and it analyses these issues in very different economic and structural settings. Recommended for development and disaster risk managers—without question. Professor Debarati Guha-Sapir Director, Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED); Professor, University of Louvain, Research Institute Health and Society.