This paper explores the ethical mandates of Islamic banking and finance (IBF) and then studies the recent performance of IBF on the positive level. The ethical section is divided into four parts: (1) promotion of trade and cooperation, (2) prohibition of ribā and of profiting without risk, (3)...

Although the development of a new private sector is generally considered crucial to economic transition and development, there has been little empirical research on the determinants of startup firm growth. This paper uses panel data techniques to analyze a survey of 297 new small enterprises in...

This paper analyzes data from a randomized experiment on mean returns to capital in SriLankan micro-enterprises. The findings show greater returns among men than among women; indeed, returns were not different from zero for women. The authors explore different explanations for the lower returns...

Although the development of a new private sector is generally considered crucial to economic transition, there has been rather little empirical research on the determinants of startup firm growth. This paper uses panel data techniques to analyze a survey of 297 new small enterprises in Romania...