Since 2004, 75 percent of countries have adopted at least one reform making it easier to register a business. Yet, despite these efforts, the majority of firms in most developing countries remain informal. This is of concern to policymakers, who worry that a large stock of informal firms results...

In order to understand the impact of facilitating access to savings accounts and to examine the importance of these barriers for formal savings, author designed a field experiment among smallholder cash crop farmers in Malawi. In partnership with a local microfinance institution, author...

Despite the emphasis placed by microfinance organizations on lending to female business owners, evidence from three recent randomized controlled trials has cast doubt on the ability of capital alone to grow female-operated microenterprises: in my own previous experiment in Sri Lanka women given...

Firms in developing countries are widely known to face many constraints, from lack of access to finance and physical capital to poor infrastructure. The course seems to have been particularly effective at promoting business growth for those entrepreneurs who exhibited higher levels of financial...

Lack of mobility of labor is likely the biggest distortion in global factor markets, resulting in large differences in the productivity and income a given worker can have in different places. As a result of this fact, facilitating emigration has the potential to be one of the most effective...

The tenth in series of impact notes profiles early results from an ongoing randomized experiment, which is the first such experiment with large firms. Early results show how much difference improving management practices can make. Recent measurement has found that the majority of firms in...

The eighth in impact series summarizes the results of an evaluation that didn't go as planned. Nevertheless, the author believe there are lessons to be had from this experience for Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) finance and private sector work in other countries, and that it is...

The fifth in impact series presents results on a careful evaluation of a financial literacy program in Indonesia. Despite the recent hype of the benefits of financial literacy programs in both the media and policy-making circles, this research is the first systematic and scientific evaluation of...