Firms

Promoting innovation: Lessons from R&D tax credits in India

Evidence from India shows that R&D tax credit policies which targeted specific sectors generated meaningful welfare gains, particularly through improvements in product quality and product variety.

Firms

Pavel Chakraborty Sankalp Mathur Sujaya Sircar Rubina Verma

Published

18.12.25

What have we learned about training entrepreneurs?

While entrepreneurship training programmes can modestly enhance business survival, income, and management skills in developing countries, their effectiveness depends on tailored design, sustained engagement, and complementary support such as finance,...

Firms

David McKenzie

Published

05.11.25

How goal setting improves worker performance in small firms: Evidence from cassava processors in Ghana

In Ghana, a simple, low-cost intervention – helping informal workers set daily goals – significantly improved workers’ and firms’ performance, suggesting that non-binding incentives may be an effective means to foster the growth of small firms in dev...

Firms

Elena Cettolin Kym Cole Patricio Dalton

Published

30.10.25

How China’s business registration reform boosted entrepreneurship and productivity

China’s 2014 business registration reform spurred greater market dynamism by lowering entry barriers, which increased firm turnover and allowed smaller yet more productive entrepreneurs to establish new businesses, boosting overall productivity and g...

Firms

Panle Jia Barwick Luming Chen Shanjun Li Xiaobo Zhang

Published

24.10.25

How political connections shape Mozambique’s private sector

Political elites don’t just govern, many also own businesses. In Mozambique, public office is often converted into private business capital, highlighting how political power can be a direct route to economic influence, both for office holders and the...

Firms

Sam Jones Felix Schilling Finn Tarp

Published

07.10.25

First movers post conflict: How managerial experience shaped firm entry after Angola’s civil war

Firms were more likely to enter Angola’s market after the civil war if they employed managers with prior, Angola-specific export experience – highlighting the critical role of managerial human capital in overcoming fixed entry costs in post-conflict ...

Firms

Giordano Mion Luca David Opromolla Alessandro Sforza

Published

06.10.25

How does monetary policy shape economic activity in developing countries?

How does monetary policy transmit through developing economies? New evidence shows that firms do react to both monetary policy contraction and expansion, but not symmetrically.

Firms

Djeneba Dramé Florian Léon

Published

22.09.25

Adapting under uncertainty: How firms misallocate resources after disasters

When firms expect little help from the state, they over-adapt to shocks at the cost of long-term growth.

Firms

Maha Rehman

Published

29.08.25

Why closing a business is so difficult in India – and the costs of staying open

High institutional and regulatory barriers make it unusually costly for manufacturing firms to exit in India – discouraging entry, keeping inefficient firms afloat, and lowering productivity.

Firms

Shoumitro Chatterjee Kala Krishna Kalyani Padmakumar Yingyan Zhao

Published

28.08.25