DEC Global Indicators Group

What's new

Policy Research - Enterprise Surveys

Rules and Regulations, Managerial Time and Economic Development

New working paper finds that the the time tax -- firms' senior management's time spent on government regulations -- is substantially larger in poorer economies. DECIG's experts - Nazım Tamkoç and Gustavo Ventura, use Enterprise Surveys to quantify the impact of time tax on productivity through a span-of-control growth model, showing that, for example, increasing Argentina's time tax to a global average reduces aggregate output by about 1/3 and mean plant size by more than 5 employees.
Journal Article - Enterprise Surveys

Does Financial Development Reduce Gender Disparity in Top Manager Positions in Manufacturing SMEs in Developing Countries ?

Firm owners tend to prefer men to women for top management positions because financial markets make it harder for women to obtain finance. This paper tests this idea using firm-level survey data for small and medium-size formal manufacturing enterprises in 47 developing countries.

Key Products

Business Ready (B-READY) - Manual and Guide
The B-READY Manual and Guideline presents the protocols at all stages of the production cycle, including the initial screening of experts, data collection, data management, the production of the data and report, and their dissemination. It has designed in consultation with the World Bank Group’s Ethics and Business Conduct Department (EBC) and Group Internal Audit (GIA).
Business Ready (B-READY) - Methodology Handbook
The B-READY Methodology Handbook first presents the objectives, scope, and approach of the project. It then provides a full description of the project’s methodology, including motivation, indicators, questionnaires, and scoring guidelines per topic. The B-READY methodology will be subject to refinements in the first three data collection and reporting cycles, as the project expands its economy coverage and moves from pilot to full-fledged project.
Women, Business and the Law 2023
Women, Business and the Law 2023 is the ninth in a series of annual studies measuring the laws and regulations that affect women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies. It identifies barriers to women’s economic participation and encourages reform of discriminatory laws. This year, the study also includes research, a literature review, and analysis of 53 years of reforms for women’s rights and makes an important contribution to research and policy discussions about the state of women’s economic empowerment.

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Enterprise Analysis Research
The Enterprise Analysis Unit's research aims at understanding how the business environment affects firm performance in developing countries. Data from the Enterprise Surveys serves as the primary input, complemented with similar firm-level surveys and other relevant data sources.
Enterprise Analysis Country Reports
Country Highlights summarize the key findings from the Enterprise Survey, including performance and business environment indicators. Analysis includes changes over time, indicator differences with the country’s geographic region and to other countries with similar income levels, and differences between a country’s subnational locations.
Global Indicators Briefs (GIBs)
GIBs summarize key findings of formal research and data analysis conducted by DECIG staff on topics related to private sector development.
Doing Business Archive
In September 2021, World Bank Group management decided to discontinue the Doing Business report. However, the Doing Business website continues to be publicly available as an archive of knowledge and data.