Microenterprises and Poverty: Evidence from Latin America

Abstract

This study assesses poverty in the microenterprise sector in Latin America, presenting stylized facts on potential poverty risk factors at the household and individual levels. The goal of the paper is to describe the main trends in the region and the scope of the paper is limited to a descriptive analysis of poverty risk factors based on the nature of the data set (household surveys). Therefore, the study does not explore the causes of poverty in the MIC sector or the factors that determine whether an individual works in a microenterprise. The end result is a comparison of poverty rates in the MIC sector with the rest of the economy; and also the determination of the poverty rate of households with microenterprise income, as compared to the poverty rate of other households.Economic Development & Growth, Microbusinesses & Microfinance, Poverty, Microenterprise, poverty, economic growth, Latin America, MIC sector