The literature has typically found a positive relationship between crime rates and female headed households. Female headed households tend to indicate instability and vulnerability, and thus a positive relationship may not be surprising. This study explores the relationship between female owned...

Several studies have explored the relationship between economy level crime rates or individual level crime and economic growth. However, few studies have examined the relationship between economic growth and crime against firms which is an important issue especially for developing economies....

For a representative sample of manufacturing firms in 26 countries, this paper shows that changes in the cost of importing over time are significantly and negatively correlated with changes in the percentage of firms'material inputs that are of foreign origin. Furthermore, the paper shows that...

This study explores the relationship between mandating a nondiscrimination clause in hiring practices along gender lines and the employment of women versus men in 58 developing countries. The study finds a strong positive relationship between a nondiscrimination in hiring clause and women's...

Several studies have explored the relationship between economy-level crime rates or individual-level crime and economic growth. However, few studies have examined the relationship between economic growth and crime against firms. Using data for about 12,000 firms in 27 developing countries this...

Previous studies have established a negative relationship between total government spending and entrepreneurship activity. However, the relationship between the composition of government spending and entrepreneurship has been woefully under-researched. We fill this gap by empirically exploring...

During economic crises, governments often increase fiscal spending to stimulate the economy. While the fiscal spending surge may be temporary, spending composition is often altered in favor of expenditures on social programs and other public goods which may persist over time. We model and...

Political economy factors tend to induce many governments to spend on private goods (non-social subsidies) to the detriment of spending on social and public goods. We show that this bias in spending patterns is particularly costly for economic growth when capital markets are imperfect. We thus...

During economic crises, governments often increase fiscal spending to stimulate the economy. While the fiscal spending surge is sometimes temporary, recessions are opportunities to revise the spending composition often in favor of expenditures in social programs and other public goods which tend...

This paper uses firm-level data for 87 developing countries to analyze how the likelihood of a firm having female vs. male top manager varies across sectors. The service sector is often considered to be more favorable toward women compared with men vis-à-vis the manufacturing sector. Although...