This paper argues that legislative malapportionment, denoting a discrepancy between the share of legislative seats and the share of population held by electoral districts, serves as a tool for pre-democratic elites to preserve their political power and economic interests after a transition to...

Levels of development vary widely within countries in the Americas. We argue that part of this variation has its roots in the colonial era, when colonizers engaged in different economic activities in different regions of a country.We present evidence consistent with the view that “bad”...

Levels of economic development vary widely within countries in the Americas. This paper argues that part of this variation has its roots in the colonial era. Colonizers engaged in different economic activities in different regions of a country, depending on local conditions. Some activities were...

This paper assesses the medium-run effects of government support to firms during the COVID-19 crisis and whether the effectiveness of this support varied with its timing. Using data from three rounds of the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys COVID-19 Follow-up Surveys carried out between May 2020...

Changing pedagogical practices is a promising, cost-effective avenue for improving education in developing countries, especially when done without changing current inputs such as teachers and instruction time. This article presents the results of a randomized evaluation of a program that aimed...

Identifying the determinants of entrepreneurship is an important research and policy goal, especially in emerging market economies where lack of capital and supporting infrastructure often imposes stringent constraints on business growth. This paper studies the impact of a comprehensive business...

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...

The second in new series of impact notes highlights an example of ex-past evolution of regulatory reform. While ideally one would like to build in an evolution strategy before a new policy is introduced, much can still be achieved ex-past in cases where existing data collection covers those...

Tax rates and the administrative costs of tax compliance are key concerns of business. Studies within and across countries suggest that lowering corporate tax rates can increase investment, reduce tax evasion by formal firms, promote the creation of formal firms, and ultimately raise sales and...