"Randomized experiments are increasingly used in development economics, with researchers now facing the question of not just whether to randomize, but how to do so. Pure random assignment guarantees that the treatment and control groups will have identical characteristics on average, but in any...

This study uses administrative data to evaluate the impact of Minas Fácil Expresso, a programme in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, which expanded a business start-up simplification programme to more remote municipalities. Using difference-in-differences with 56 months of registration data...

We conduct randomized experiments around a large-scale financial literacy course in Mexico City to understand the reasons for low take-up among a general population, and to measure the impact of this financial education course. Our results suggest that reputational, logistical, and specific...

Since 2004, 75 percent of countries have adopted at least one reform making it easier to register a business. Yet, despite these efforts, the majority of firms in most developing countries remain informal. This is of concern to policymakers, who worry that a large stock of informal firms results...

This paper uses a regression discontinuity design to study the effect of Poland's In-Tech program on innovation activities. The analysis focuses on a component of the program that provides grants to projects that are carried out by consortia of firms and research entities. Data from a 2016...

Efforts to make it easier for firms to register formally are the most common form of business regulatory reform over the past decade. While there is evidence that large reforms have resulted in some increases in registration rates, recent experimental evidence suggests very few informal firms...

Randomized experiments are increasingly used in development economics, with researchers now facing the question of not just whether to randomize, but how to do so. Pure random assignment guarantees that the treatment and control groups will have identical characteristics on average, but in any...

Innovation policy aims to foster collaborations between science and industry in many countries, but there is little evidence for the effectiveness of such efforts in developing countries. We use regression discontinuity to measure the impact of funding from Poland's In-Tech program on innovation...

We conducted a field experiment in Belo Horizonte, Brazil to test which government actions work to encourage informal firms to register. We find zero or negative impacts of information and free cost treatments and a significant but small increase in formalization from inspections. The local...

The majority of microenterprises in most developing countries remain informal despite more than a decade of reforms aimed at making it easier and cheaper for them to formalize. This paper summarizes the evidence on the effects of entry reforms and related policy actions to promote firm...