Do Financially Constrained Firms Suffer from More Intense Competition by the Informal Sector? Firm-Level Evidence from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys

This paper studies the consequences of predation when firms deploy guard labor as a means of protecting themselves. We build a simple model and combine it with data for 144 countries from the World Bank enterprise surveys, which ask about firm-level experiences with predation and spending on protection. We use the model to estimate the output loss caused by the misallocation of labor across firms and from production to protection. The loss due to protection effort is substantial and patterns of state protection at the micro level can have a profound impact on aggregate output losses. Various extensions are discussed. (JEL D22, D24, J24, K40, L84, O17)

Download Full-text

Evaluation of Firm Performances in Emerging Markets

Handbook of Research on Increasing the Competitiveness of SMEs - Advances in Business Strategy and Competitive Advantage ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-9425-3.ch015 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 329-354

Author(s):

Seda Ekmen Özçelik

Keyword(s):

Emerging Markets ◽

Total Factor Productivity ◽

Labor Productivity ◽

Value Added ◽

Factor Productivity ◽

Firm Level ◽

Average Value ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

Enterprise Surveys

This chapter provides basic understanding of firm performance in emerging markets by focusing on labor productivity and total factor productivity. In the study, labor productivity is measured in terms of average value added per worker. Total factor productivity is obtained from estimations of Cobb-Douglas production function where value added is a function of labor and capital. Data is obtained from the firm-level Enterprise Surveys by the World Bank. According to the results, differences in average labor productivities are significant among the sectors within each emerging region. Also, the value of factor elasticities changes across sectors as well as across regions. Moreover, the elasticity of capital is lower than the elasticity of labor for all sectors in regions. It implies that labor plays a more significant role and the firms are operating in a more labor-intensive production process in emerging markets.

Download Full-text

Does the Common Currency Increase Exports? Evidence from Firm-Level Data

International Journal of Management and Economics ◽

10.2478/ijme-2014-0034 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 8-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Andrzej Cieślik ◽

Jan Michałek ◽

Anna Michałek

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

Common Currency ◽

Firm Level ◽

Export Activity ◽

The World Bank ◽

Level Data ◽

The World ◽

Firm Level Data ◽

The Common ◽

Econometric Approach

Abstract The main goal of this paper is to investigate empirically whether the adoption of the common currency increases the export activity of individual frms using the probity model. There are many studies that seek to estimate the aggregate trade effects of the adoption of the euro by the “outside” EU countries, which are based on the gravity model. In contrast to the existing literature we use an alternative micro econometric approach based on firm level data compiled by the EBRD and the World Bank. We demonstrate that the propensity to export of individual frms from Slovenia and Slovakia increased after the accession of those countries to the Eurozone.

Download Full-text

Determinants of credit access of small and medium enterprises in emerging economies: evidence from the World Bank enterprise surveys

International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business ◽

10.1504/ijgsb.2021.10039645 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Rafael De Freitas Souza ◽

Patrícia Belfiore ◽

Nuno Manoel Martins Dias Fouto ◽

Marco Aurélio Dos Santos ◽

Luiz Paulo Fávero

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

Emerging Economies ◽

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Credit Access ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

Enterprise Surveys ◽

Medium Enterprises

Download Full-text

Determinants of export performance of Ukrainian firms

Equilibrium ◽

10.12775/equil.2015.026 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 91

Author(s):

Andrzej Cieślik ◽

Jan Jakub Michałek ◽

Iryna Nasadiuk

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

Firm Heterogeneity ◽

Export Performance ◽

University Graduates ◽

Trade Theory ◽

Firm Level ◽

The World Bank ◽

Level Data ◽

The World ◽

Firm Level Data

Following the new strand in the new trade theory literature that focuses on firm heterogeneity, in this paper we investigate the determinants of a firm’s export performance in Ukraine. The study is based on the BEEPS firm level data compiled by EBRD and the World Bank. The study covers the period starting in 2005 and ending in 2013. We estimate the probit regressions for each year of our sample as well as for the pooled dataset that includes all years. Our pooled estimation results indicate that the probability of exporting is related to the level of productivity, the firm size, innovation, the share of university graduates in productive employment, as well as the internationalization of firms.

Download Full-text

Infrastructure quality and firm productivity in Africa

World Journal of Entrepreneurship Management and Sustainable Development ◽

10.1108/wjemsd-11-2017-0091 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 367-384 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Edward Bbaale

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Empirical Literature ◽

Firm Productivity ◽

Power Outages ◽

Firm Level ◽

Content Type ◽

The Public ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World

Purpose The World Bank (2017) ranks poor infrastructure, particularly electricity, as the second topmost obstacle (after access to finance) affecting enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of infrastructure quality on firm productivity in Africa. Design/methodology/approach The author used the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) for 26 African countries and employed both descriptive and ordinary least squares techniques during the analysis. The author circumvents the endogeneity of infrastructure in the productivity model by using firm-level measures of infrastructure quality rather than the stock of infrastructural capital. Findings On an average, 80 percent of manufacturing firms in Africa reported having experienced electricity outages in the financial year preceding the survey. Power outages are negatively associated with the productivity of small, medium, young, domestically owned firms and non-exporters. On the other hand, the author observes a substitution effect of generators for the unreliable power from the public grid and this effect positively influences the productivity of large, old, foreign-owned and exporting firms. Practical implications The author argues that in addition to infrastructure capital at an aggregate level, dealing with quality issues at firm level is required to enhance productivity. More attention needs to be put to the elimination of power outages so as to improve the productivity of all firms particularly those that cannot afford to use generators in the place of electricity from the public grid. Originality/value The author notes that there exists scanty empirical literature on the effect of infrastructure quality on productivity for the case of Africa despite the existence of WBES for at least two waves for both developed and developing countries. The uniqueness of this paper in comparison to the previous literature is that the author undertakes the analysis according to some important firm categories: size, age, ownership and export status. Additionally, the author uses the infrastructure quality to understand its effect on firm-level efficiency levels rather than the stock of infrastructural capital. The use of aggregate indicators of infrastructure introduces an endogeneity problem which the author circumvents in this study.

Download Full-text

Minority investor protection mechanisms and agency costs: An empirical study using a World Bank–developed approach

Accounting ◽

10.5267/j.ac.2021.6.014 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 235-248 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hoang N. Pham ◽

Minh C. Nguyen

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

Agency Costs ◽

Investor Protection ◽

Agency Problems ◽

Minority Shareholders ◽

Firm Level ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

Protection Mechanisms ◽

The Impact

This study aims to examine the impact of minority investor protection mechanisms on agency costs. All relevant indicators of minority investor protection adapted from the World Bank’s annual ‘Doing Business’ reports, along with concentrated government ownership, are employed with a panel data sample of 135 Vietnamese listed firms during the period 2014–2018. It is found that the following mechanisms are effective in mitigating agency costs and hence agency problems at the firm level: 1) review and approval requirements for related-party transactions; 2) minority shareholders’ ability to sue and hold directors liable for their duties; 3) minority shareholders’ access to internal corporate documents; 4) investors’ rights to approve major corporate investment and sale of asset decisions; and 5) disclosure in annual reports of salaries, bonuses and other forms of remuneration to directors and management. Interestingly, board independence and controlling government shareholders are not confirmed to play significant roles in addressing agency problems. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt at testing for the impact of minority investor protection mechanisms developed by the World Bank on agency costs at the firm level, hence providing empirical evidence for the adoption of the minority investor protection mechanisms promoted by the World Bank. This study also provides policy implications for selecting effective mechanisms to mitigate agency conflicts between controlling shareholders and minority investors in order to enhance the financial performance of firms in an Asian emerging market.

Download Full-text