Is it the institutions or firm characteristics at birth that shape startups and their early growth in developing countries? Using comprehensive data from the Indian Annual Survey of Industries this paper addresses this question by studying the early lifecycle of firms across diverse...

This paper investigates the contribution of small firms to employment, job creation, and growth in developing countries. While small firms (20 employees) have the smallest share of aggregate employment, the SME sector's (100 employees) contribution is comparable to that of large firms. Small...

Combining two unique data sets, this paper explores the relationship between the relative importance of different financial institutions and their average size and firms'access to financial services. Specifically, the authors explore the relationship between the share in total financial assets...

The differences in financial development across Indian states, while seeming substantial, have a minor effect on firm lifecycle and growth. These results hold controlling for differences in labor regulations across states, capital intensity, and for firms born before and after the major reforms....

Survey data from 120 developing countries are used to examine the relation between establishment size and age in the formal sector. Existing research suggests that manufacturing establishments in developing countries do not grow over time, most likely because of market imperfections and...

Using two new datasets, the authors examine whether the presence of banks affects the profitability and outreach of microfinance institutions. They find evidence that competition matters. Greater bank penetration in the overall economy is associated with microbanks pushing toward poorer markets,...

Using firm-level data from 52 countries, the authors investigate how a country's institutions and business environment affect firms'organizational choices and the effects of organizational form on access to finance and growth. They find that businesses are more likely to choose the corporate...

The authors investigate the determinants of firm innovation in over 19,000 firms across 47 developing economies. They define the innovation process broadly, to include not only core innovation such as the introduction of new products and new technologies, but also other types of activities that...

What role does the business environment play in promoting and restraining firm growth? Recent literature points to a number of factors as obstacles to growth. Inefficient functioning of financial markets, inadequate security and enforcement of property rights, poor provision of infrastructure,...

The authors investigate how a country's financial institutions and the quality of its legal system explain the size attained by its largest industrial firms in a sample of 44 countries. Firm size is positively related to the size of the banking system and the efficiency of the legal system....