Direct support to private firms - evidence on effectiveness

Governments use a variety of instruments to provide direct support to private enterprises. These include the provision of finance (subsidized and/or directed credit) and business development services (management and marketing advice to small businesses, agricultural extension services, support for enterprise level training and support to technology development). These interventions are distinct from those that support enterprises indirectly by establishing a policy and legal environment conducive to enterprise development. How effective have these direct support schemes been? This paper attempts to provide some answers to this question by surveying the available literature on the effectiveness of direct support interventions. Where available, impact evaluations suggest that the performance has been mixed at best. The evidence indicates that active intervention does not work unless the basic environment for private sector development is sound. Public policy thus needs to focus on creating an enabling environment, key elements of which include a sound legal and judicial system which supports low-cost contract enforcement, good infrastructure, a policy playing field which is level in terms of ease of registration, taxes and investment incentives for all enterprises-large and small, domestic and foreign.Decentralization,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,ICT Policy and Strategies,Banks&Banking Reform,Enterprise Development&Reform,Banks&Banking Reform,ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Economics&Finance,Municipal Financial Management,Environmental Economics&Policies

The Firms Speak: What the World Business Environment Survey Tells Us about Constraints on Private Sector Development

This chapter summarizes the salient results of the World Business Environment Survey (WBES). It shows that important dimensions of the climate for business operation and investment can be measured, analyzed, and compared across countries, and that governance is key to the business environment and investment climate. The survey findings suggest that key policy, institutional, and governance indicators affect the growth of a firm's sales and investment and the extent to which firms operate in the unofficial economy. Further, the paper provides empirical support for some commonly held notions, while challenging others. It suggests a link between taxation, financing, and corruption on the one hand, and growth and investment on the other, and it highlights the costs to economies where the state is captured by a narrow set of private interests.

Environmental Evaluation and Global Development Institutions

Evaluation is increasingly important for finding sustainable solutions for the people and the planet, based on a systematic analysis of what works, for whom, and under what circumstances, and to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, as they pertain to the environment. This book explores why the Global Environment Facility (GEF) invests in evaluation for accountability and learning to inform its decision-making on programming priorities, and how this leads to wiser funding decisions and better program performance on the ground. The book is based on real-life experiences of how to make evaluation count for international environmental action. Drawing upon comprehensive evaluations of the GEF, it provides unique insights from authors responsible for designing, implementing, and disseminating the findings of the evaluations. No other multilateral development or environment agency places evaluation fully at the center of their decision-making. The book outlines the trends in the global environment and the changing landscape of international environmental finance. It defines the role of the GEF and explains its institutional framework and the unique partnership that involves donor and recipient countries, multilateral development banks, UN agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and national agencies in the developing countries. Further, it provides useful pointers to other organizations wishing to enhance evidence-based decision-making for improving their relevance, performance, and impact. The book will be most suitable for graduate-level, specialized study in a variety of disciplines such as environmental and development economics, political science, international relations, geography, sociology, and social anthropology

Improving International Development Evaluation through Geospatial Data and Analysis

Increasing availability of new types of data strengthens geospatial research in different scientific fields and opens up opportunities to better measure results and evaluate the impacts of development interventions. This article presents examples where geospatial approaches have been applied in evaluations and thus demonstrate the potential use in informing policy design through scientifically sound evidence as well as learning. The authors illustrate innovative ways of employing geospatial data and analysis in impact evaluations of international development cooperation. These interventions are concerned with topics such as biodiversity conservation, land degradation, sustainable use of natural resources, and disaster risk management. Recent methodological developments in the field of remote sensing and machine learning show significant potential to transform the vast body of new data into meaningful evidence aimed to improve policy and program design. The application and potential of methods are discussed in light of increasing importance of concerns over global climate change and climate change adaptation. The authors call for enhancing mutual interaction between the geospatial research disciplines and the development evaluation community to jointly contribute to finding solutions for tackling pressing social and environmental challenges

Are Foreign Firms Privileged By Their Host Governments? Evidence From The 2000 World Business Environment Survey

Using the data from World Business Environment Survey (WBES) on over 10,000 firms across eighty one countries, this paper finds preliminary evidence that foreign firms enjoy significant regulatory advantages - as perceived by the firms themselves - over domestic firms. The findings on regulatory advantages of foreign firms hold with a variety of alternative measures of regulations and with or without firm- and country-level attributes and industry and country controls. There is also evidence that foreign firms' regulatory advantages are especially substantial vis-a-vis the politically weak domestic firms. Furthermore, the regulatory advantages of foreign firms appear stronger in corrupt countries than in non-corrupt countries