Microenterprise Dynamics in Developing Countries : How Similar are They to Those in the Industrialized World? Evidence from Mexico

Fajnzylber, Pablo ; Maloney, William ; Montes Rojas, Gabriel

Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank

关键词: AFFILIATE;    AGE GROUP;    ATTRITION;    BUSINESS FAILURE;    COLLEGE EDUCATION;   

DOI  :  10.1093/wber/lhl005
RP-ID  :  77524

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

A rich panel data set from Mexico isused to study the patterns of entry, exit, and growth ofmicroenterprises and to compare these with the findings ofthe mainstream theoretical and empirical work on firmdynamics. The Mexican self-employment sector is much largerthan its counterpart in the United States, which isreflected in higher unconditional rates of entry into thesector. The evidence for Mexico points to the significantpresence of well-performing salaried workers among thelikely entrants into self-employment, as opposed to thehigher incidence of poorer wageworkers among the entrantsinto the U.S. self-employment sector. Despite thesedifferences, however, the patterns of entry, survival, andgrowth with respect to age, education, and many othercovariates are very similar in Mexico and the United States.These strong similarities suggest that mainstream models ofworker decisions and firm behavior are useful guides forpolicymaking for the developing-country microenterprisesector. Furthermore, they suggest that, as a firstapproximation, the developing-country microenterprise shouldprobably be viewed as they are in the advanced countries asoffering potentially desirable job opportunities tolow-productivity workers.