"Using 2005 firm level data for 26 countries in Eastern and Central Europe, this paper estimates performance gaps between male and female-owned businesses, while controlling for location by industry and country. The findings show that female entrepreneurs have a significantly smaller scale of...

"The authors employ propensity score matching and a traditional control function approach to examine the impact of participation in various societal institutions on microfirm performance in Mexico. They find that firms that participate in credit markets, receive training, pay taxes, and belong...

"This paper investigates how enforcement of labor regulation affects the firm's use of informal employment and its impact on firm performance. Using firm level data on informal employment and firm performance, and administrative data on enforcement of regulation at the city level, the authors...

This Investment Climate Assessment is based on an analysis of data collected in the Investment Climate Survey of manufacturing firms in Tanzania. The survey was conducted between April and July 2003 by the World Bank and the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) in Dar es Salaam, in...

The corporate scorecard provides information on the Bank's overall performance and the results achieved by its clients, against the backdrop of progress on global development objectives. The corporate scorecard facilitates strategic dialogue between management and the Board on progress made and...

Two ambitious goals guide World Bank Group actions: (i) ending extreme poverty by reducing the percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day to 3 percent by 2030; and (ii) promoting shared prosperity by fostering income growth for the bottom 40 percent of the population in every country. The...

Many countries are convinced that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) should be an important component of their growth strategy. To encourage FDI, they have improved their business climates, developed various guarantees for investors, and offered incentives. In the real world, Investment Promotion...