(english) This paper investigates the dynamics of the informal sector in Madagascar during a period of fragile growth. Overall, the behavior of informal firms in terms of earnings, employment and capital accumulation points to a degree of heterogeneity which goes beyond a simple dualistic model...

In Africa, boundaries delineated during the colonial era now divide young independent states. By applying regression discontinuity designs to a large set of surveys covering the 1986-2001 period, this paper identifies many large and significant jumps in welfare at the borders between five...

(english) Fiscal constraints and policy changes to improve the effectiveness of programmes in reducing poverty have gradually led the international community to use tools to reach the poor. Poverty reduction policy targeting is one of them. This paper reviews targeted poverty alleviation...

(english) We use a representative sample of informal entrepreneurs in Madagascar to add new evidence on the magnitude of the gender performance gap. After controlling for business and entrepreneur characteristics, female-owned businesses exhibit a value added 28 percent lower than their male...

(english) Using a unique panel of household businesses for Vietnam, this paper sheds light on the links between households’ and entrepreneurs’ social networks and business performance. We address two related questions. One first question asks if we can find evidence of a differentiated...

This paper estimates the long run impact of a large income shock, by exploiting the regional variation of the 1987-1989 locust invasion in Mali. Using exhaustive Population Census data, we construct birth cohorts of individuals and compare those born and living in the years and villages affected...

(english) Most longitudinal surveys recontact households only if they are still living in the same dwelling, producing very high attrition rates, especially in developing countries where rural-urban migration is prevalent. In this paper, we discuss the implications of the various follow-up rules...

This paper addresses the issue of labour market sectoral allocation, and more specifically of the determinant of "choosing" the informal sector in Vietnam, a massive and unknown component of the Vietnamese economy. Instead of focusing on indirect measures to reveal individual preferences, our...

(english) This paper analyzes the level of job satisfaction expressed by individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa. The approach is original in three respects. no in-depth economic study has ever been produced on the determinants of job satisfaction on this continent; the approach aims at isolating the...