This paper focuses on the role of development in informality through higher wages and expanded production possibilities. First, it uses informal, plant-level survey data across countries to document that...
This paper characterizes the firm size distribution by exploiting establishment-level censuses covering both formal and informal firms in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper finds a "missing middle" in the employment-based...
This paper explores the link between jobs, access to Finance, and informality. Using longitudinal firm-level data for countries in the Middle East and North Africa, it documents that jobs creation is positively...
Brazil has been one of the countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the region. In June 2021, it was the country with the second-highest rate of deaths per million and the fourth by the number...
This paper proposes a new mechanism to explain resource misallocation in developing countries: the high commuting costs within cities that prevent workers from accessing formal employment. To test this...
This paper uses 1-2-3 survey data on the Democratic Republic of Congo to analyze heterogeneity in the informal sector. It empirically identifies three types of entrepreneurs in the sector. The first group...
This paper sets out initial results from a new modeling exercise for Defined Contribution (DC) pensions. It develops a package called penCalc based on the open source software language R, which is popular...
Despite strong economic growth in recent decades led by the resource-based sectors, Lao PDR facessignificant challenges, including high poverty rates and limited productivity. A highly challenging business...
New available data suggests that the Lao business environment is not improving, and might be deteriorating. The main constraints named by firms surveyed in the 2016 Enterprise Survey are the practices...
The development objective of the Catalytic Project to Strengthen the National Statistical Institute (INS) for Congo, Democratic Republic of is to strengthen the capacity of INS to generate and disseminate...
This paper measures the causal effects of parent enrollment into voluntary health insurance on healthcare utilization among insured and uninsured children in Nicaragua. The study utilizes a randomized...
A social protection system that responds to a more middle income, more urban, diverse and more decentralized India is needed. India has experienced sustained growth and poverty reduction in recent years...
This Country Partnership Framework (CPF) sets out the World Bank Group’s (WBG) strategy in Madagascar for the period of FY17‐FY21. As the country has emerged from a political crisis, the CPF supports the...