FIRM-LEVEL DATA IN THE MENA REGION: RESEARCH QUESTIONS, DATA REQUIREMENTS AND POSSIBILITIES

This paper presents an overview of research that uses firm-level data. The paper organizes the various areas of inquiry where firm-level data are used under two broad headings. The first is the analysis of productivity, its evolution and determinants, including the relation between productivity, trade, and trade policy. The second general area relates to enterprise financial behavior, patterns of external finance across firms, and the existence and severity of financial constraints faced by different types of firms, followed by their impact on investment behavior. The paper also points out that there is an emerging literature that examines the relation between financial constraints and productivity. The paper provides some thoughts on research questions that would be fruitful for researchers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to address, the sort of data that can be used to address them and to document availability of firm-level data in the MENA Region.