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

Kaufmann, Daniel and Batra, Geeta and Stone, Andrew H. W. (2003): The Firms Speak: What the World Business Environment Survey Tells Us about Constraints on Private Sector Development. Published in: Pathways out of Poverty

Abstract

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.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Subjects: L - Industrial Organization > L5 - Regulation and Industrial Policy > L51 - Economics of Regulation; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O10 - General; L - Industrial Organization > L2 - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior > L20 - General; K - Law and Economics > K4 - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior > K42 - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M1 - Business Administration > M13 - New Firms ; Startups; P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems > P10 - General; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M2 - Business Economics > M21 - Business Economics

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