The author analyzes the cost to the Ministry of Health of providing district health services in Malawi, with an emphasis on the cost of the district hospital. She reaches several conclusions : 1) except for drugs and food, there seems to be little scope for major savings in hospital operation...

This paper presents the result of an evaluation of about 300 power projects financed by the World Bank and IDA between 1965 and 1983. The study shows a declining trend in power sector performance in spite of Bank involvement in the sector. It recommends greater emphasis on : improving productive...

This paper examines the role of private support institutions in determining small and medium enterprise (SME) growth and performance in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It finds that SMEs in SSA get around market failures and lack of formal institutions by creating private governance systems in the...

If a country's planning and budgeting system is dilapidated, an important first step is to rehabilitate basic budgetary and accounting functions and to generate public expenditure data that can provide a starting point for rational planning. This paper makes the point that many of the necessary...

The World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey measures entrepreneurial activity around the world. The database includes cross-country, time-series data on the number of total and newly registered businesses for 84 countries. This paper finds significant relationships between entrepreneurial...

The World Bank's Ease of Doing Business reports have been ranking countries since 2006. However, do improvements in rankings generate greater foreign direct investment inflows? This study is the first to test such a proposition empirically with Arellano-Bond dynamic panel estimators using the...

Different views have been put forward to explain why most firms in developing countries operate informally. One view argues that informal-business owners are entrepreneurs who do not register their firm because the regulation process is too complex. Another argues that informal-business owners...

The authors examine how institutions that enforce contracts between two parties-producers and consumers-interact in a competitive market with one-sided asymmetric information and productivity shocks. They compare an informal enforcement mechanism, reputation, the efficacy of which is enhanced by...

This paper identifies the relative importance of human and physical capital for entrepreneurship. A subset of rural microfinance clients were offered eight full time days of business training and the opportunity to participate in a loan lottery of up to Rs. 100,000 (USD 1,700), about seven times...

A central policy of the Government of Indonesia's strategy for enhancing its country's economic and social development is to develop infrastructure and expand service delivery. Public procurement reform is a key component of this policy. Despite the decentralization of financial responsibility...