Industrialization drives the sustained growth in jobs and productivity that marks the developmental take-off of most developed economies. Yet, academics and policy makers have questioned the role of manufacturing in development for late industrializers, especially in view of rapid advancements...

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 size distribution of firms in four Sub-Saharan African countries. This "missing...

Studies examining the effect of regional trade agreements (RTAs) on trade find rather heterogeneous effects depending on the terms of the agreements, sectors and products covered, and the characteristics of the countries involved. The standard approach to estimating RTA effects does not...