This Brief studies the establishment size distribution in the European Union countries. A well-established literature has established that an abundance of small establishments among lower-income countries is evidence of the misallocation of inputs. To investigate this phenomenon, this Brief...

This Brief examines issues related to women's participation as workers, top managers, and owners of private firms in 27 European Union countries (EU-27), using the rich database of the World Bank Enterprise Surveys. The analysis focuses on EU regions varying between about 800,000 and 3 million...

This Brief studies patterns of political engagement among private firms in the European Union (EU). Using representative data, allowing for analysis at the level of NUTS2 regional groupings (EU regions varying from about 800,000 to 3 million inhabitants), various patterns of engagement emerge....

This Brief uses data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) in 27 European Union countries (the EU-27) to gain insights into the adoption of management practices in the region's private sector. A recent, abundant literature studies the connections between firm-level productivity and the...

This brief is the first in a series of several companion pieces that assess the state of the business environment in 27 European Union (EU27) countries. This series makes use of a fully comparable data source-the World Bank Enterprise Surveys-that measures firms' experiences with and opinions on...

This Brief highlights issues related to the education and skill level of workers and top managers in firms in 27 European Union countries (the EU-27), using the World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES). The exercise is an important step toward understanding the use of skilled and adequately educated...

While efforts are currently in place to collect data on the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, this note looks at the experience of the 2008 financial crisis to gain insights on possible differential effects of crises on female and male entrepreneurs. Specially, the note uses...

This note summarizes findings from a new paper, which lays out a methodology to determine the types of mechanisms, be they the legal system, civil organizations, or shared business interest, that firms use when entering into agreements with their suppliers and customers. Specially, the note...