This paper evaluates the impact of strengthening legal rights on the types of economic opportunities pursued. Ethiopia changed its family law, expanding wives’ access to marital property and removing restrictions to working outside the home. This reform was initially rolled out in the two...

Using new data from 42 African countries, we investigate the effects of public and private credit registries on firms’ access to finance as well as the effect of public credit registries’ design on the severity of the financing constraint. Our results show that access to finance is on...

This paper estimates the enrollment impact of a nation-wide scholarship program for female secondary students in The Gambia implemented to reduce gender disparity in education. In the regions where the scholarship program was implemented, all girls attending public middle and high schools were...

This paper investigates the maximization of economic returns from mining for African countries. We focus on gold mining, a significant sector in at least 34 African countries. Our point of departure in the paper is the well-documented reality that a large number of resource-rich African...

This paper analyzes the determinants of firms exiting the formal sector after registering at start-up. Using a unique and new dataset from four African countries (Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal) with detailed information on firms that have transitioned between formal and informal...

Agricultural sector in Africa has increasingly been the recipient of significant amount of attention from investors, in the form of large scale agribusiness projects, and the concomitant demand for land. Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) such as the African Development Bank (through its...

Using three nationally representative surveys from the country, we estimate the private rates of returns to education in The Gambia. To obtain consistent estimates, we exploit exogenous variation in school availability in the country at the district level at the time current wage earners were...

We analyze the consequences of seasonal variation in maternal consumption on child health using two nationally representative Gambian household surveys. Seasonal fluctuation in consumption stems from difficulties borrowing when incomes are low during the rainy season and saving when they peak...

We analyze the consequences of seasonal variation in maternal consumption on child health using two nationally representative Gambian household surveys. Seasonal fluctuation in consumption stems from difficulties borrowing when incomes are low during the rainy season and saving when they peak...

Using new data from 42 African countries, we investigate the effects of public and private credit registries on firms’ access to finance as well as the effect of public credit registries’ design on the severity of the financing constraint. Our results show that access to finance is on...