Understanding the Business Environment in South Asia [electronic resource] : Evidence from Firm-Level Surveys / Wendy Carlin
Material type: TextPublication details: Washington, D.C., The World Bank, 2012Description: 1 online resource (88 p.)Subject(s): Business Environment | Constraints to Firm Growth | E-Business | Environmental Economics & Policies | Firm Behavior | Formal and Informal Sectors | International Economics & Trade | Microfinance | Private Participation in Infrastructure | Small Scale Enterprise | South AsiaAdditional physical formats: Carlin, Wendy: Understanding the Business Environment in South Asia.Online resources: Click here to access online Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between firm performance and growth and the business environment in the countries of the South Asia Region - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka - using firm-level data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys. The analysis uses an approach in which the responses of firms to questions about the quality of the business environment can be interpreted as shadow prices: estimations by managers of the cost imposed on the firm by inadequacies of an aspect of the business environment - public inputs such as regulation, physical infrastructure, availability of skilled labor, macroeconomic conditions, rule of law, etc. - for the growth of their firm. The analysis finds, in line with this approach, that higher-productivity and better-performing firms in the region, and in particular firms that recently expanded their employment and created jobs, report significantly higher constraints in terms of the supply of public inputs. The authors discuss the differences across countries in the importance of various industries, how they relate to various firm characteristics, how informal and rural sector firms are constrained by public inputs, and how firms in the South Asia Region countries compare with firms in the rest of the world.This paper examines the relationship between firm performance and growth and the business environment in the countries of the South Asia Region - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka - using firm-level data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys. The analysis uses an approach in which the responses of firms to questions about the quality of the business environment can be interpreted as shadow prices: estimations by managers of the cost imposed on the firm by inadequacies of an aspect of the business environment - public inputs such as regulation, physical infrastructure, availability of skilled labor, macroeconomic conditions, rule of law, etc. - for the growth of their firm. The analysis finds, in line with this approach, that higher-productivity and better-performing firms in the region, and in particular firms that recently expanded their employment and created jobs, report significantly higher constraints in terms of the supply of public inputs. The authors discuss the differences across countries in the importance of various industries, how they relate to various firm characteristics, how informal and rural sector firms are constrained by public inputs, and how firms in the South Asia Region countries compare with firms in the rest of the world.
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