Stunted Growth : Why Don't African Firms Create More Jobs?

Iacovone, Leonardo ; Ramachandran, Vijaya ; Schmidt, Martin

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: BUSINESS CLIMATE;    BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT;    BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS;    BUSINESS SECTOR;    CAPABILITIES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6727
RP-ID  :  WPS6727

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Many countries in Africa suffer highrates of underemployment or low rates of productiveemployment; many also anticipate large numbers of people toenter the workforce in the near future. This paper asks thequestion: Are African firms creating fewer jobs than thoselocated elsewhere? And, if so, why? One reason may be thatweak business environments slow the growth of firms anddistort the allocation of resources away frombetter-performing firms, hence reducing their potential forjob creation. The paper uses data from 41,000 firms across119 countries to examine the drivers of firm growth, with aspecial focus on African firms. African firms, at any age,tend to be 20-24 percent smaller than firms in other regionsof the world. The poor business environment, driven bylimited access to finance, and the lack of availability ofelectricity, land, and unskilled labor have some value inexplaining this difference. Foreign ownership, the exportstatus of the firm, and the size of the market are alsosignificant determinants of firm size. However, even aftercontrolling for the business environment and forcharacteristics of firms and markets, about 60 percent ofthe size gap between African and non-African firms remains unexplained.