World Bank Survey Data Research Articles

Facing or Retreating? Evaluating The Impact of Corruption, Financial Access, and Gender on Corporate Tax Compliance

This study investigates how corruption, financial access, and gender affect tax compliance. 52 nations' worth of World Bank Survey data from 2019 to 2023 are used in this analysis. This investigation's results demonstrate that corruption positively impacts tax compliance. The second conclusion is that money availability improves tax compliance. The conclusion is that tax compliance has no benefit from having female senior managers. The keys to increasing tax compliance are avoiding dishonest behavior, paying taxes cooperatively, and allowing businesses to obtain financing. Our study incorporates the gender of firm managers, access to financing, and corruption into a model to forecast how enterprises will comply.

Class grievances before and after the Arab uprisings

To date, analysis of the role of entrepreneurs in the Arab uprisings has been limited. We use micro-level World Bank survey data collected from Arab entrepreneurs in the manufacturing and service sectors across a range of countries to highlight entrepreneur grievances as one proxy for the role that class might have played in the Arab uprisings. We find evidence that dissatisfaction with levels of corruption was particularly high among entrepreneurs in Egypt, Syria and Yemen on the eve of the Arab uprisings, but we also find that Arab entrepreneurs throughout the region share concerns when it comes to macroeconomic and political stability, infrastructural shortcomings and worker training, all of which are key to successful development. More recent data indicate that entrepreneurs in a number of countries (some of which had regime changes, while others did not) remain concerned about the same factors. Although they varied according to size and country, entrepreneur concerns at times went against pre-conceptions concerning Arab capitalist classes and were at odds with the recommendations of international financial institutions.

A rapid mixed-methods assessment of Libya’s primary care system

BackgroundLibya has experienced decades of violent conflict that have severely disrupted health service delivery. The Government of National Unity is committed to rebuilding a resilient health system built on a platform of strong primary care.AimCommissioned by the government, we set out to perform a rapid assessment of the system as it stands and identify areas for improvement.Design and settingWe used a rapid applied policy explanatory-sequential mixed-methods design, working with Libyan data and Libyan policymakers, with supporting interview data from other primary care policymakers working across the Middle East and North Africa region.MethodWe used the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative framework to structure our assessment. Review of policy documents and secondary analysis of WHO and World Bank survey data informed a series of targeted policymaker interviews. We used deductive framework analysis to synthesise our findings.ResultsWe identified 11 key documents and six key policymakers to interview. Libya has strong policy commitments to providing good quality primary care, and a high number of health staff and facilities. Access to services and trust in providers is high. However, a third of facilities are non-operational; there is a marked skew towards axillary and administrative staff; and structural challenges with financing, logistics, and standards has led to highly variable provision of care.ConclusionIn reforming the primary care system, the government should consolidate leadership, clarify governance structures and systems, and focus on setting national standards for human resources for health, facilities, stocks, and clinical care.

Lending corruption and bank loan contracting: Cross-Country evidence

Using World Bank survey data, we document that banks extend more favorable loan terms to borrowers in countries with more lending corruption. This relation is stronger when borrowers have financing constraints but weaker in countries with stronger monitoring of foreign bank ownership or with stronger religiosity. We also find that banks in countries with high lending corruption have poor loan quality and earnings performance and are more susceptible to trouble during a financial crisis. Overall, our findings suggest that corruption “greases the wheels” for borrowers but is detrimental to bank shareholders.

SMEs’ innovation and government support during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThere is a need for research examining how governments and firms responded to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This study investigates the interdependence between governments and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the pandemic in relation to the dynamic capabilities and resource dependence theories.Design/methodology/approachWe use World Bank survey data collected immediately before and after the COVID-19 outbreak and a generalized structural equation model to examine the mediating role of government support in the relationship between firm innovation, resilience and survival.FindingsInnovative SMEs exhibited higher resilience and a better chance of survival during the pandemic, partly due to attracting more government support.Originality/valueThis study offers a novel understanding of the government’s role in supporting innovative SMEs during the pandemic. The findings have implications for how government support policies can limit the deadweight effect and the substitution effect.

Public procurement and formal employment of small and medium sized enterprises: evidence from China

ABSTRACT Using the World Bank Survey data, this study analyzes the impact of public procurement on the formal employment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. The study finds that public procurement has significantly increased the proportion of formal employment within SMEs. Mechanism analysis finds that public procurement can effectively increase the proportion of highly educated employees.

Rent-seeking in bank credit and firm R&D innovation: The role of industrial agglomeration

Employing World Bank's survey data on the Chinese business environment, we empirically investigate the role of industrial agglomeration in moderating the effect of rent-seeking in bank credit on firm R&D innovation. The results show that rent-seeking in bank credit impedes firm R&D innovation, while industrial agglomeration corrects this impeding effect, which is also robust when considering endogenous problems. Furthermore, the results show that the moderating role of industrial agglomeration in correcting the negative effect of rent-seeking in bank credit on firm R&D innovation is more prominent for SMEs, non-state firms, and firms with more severe financial constraints. These findings suggest that the spatial agglomeration of industries can effectively alleviate the suppression effect of rent-seeking in credit corruption on firm R&D innovation, highlighting ways to promote firm R&D innovation in China's financially repressive environment.

The impact of digital transformation on female career development: dividends or divide? An empirical analysis based on the World Bank Survey Data on Chinese manufacturing companies

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has become an important force to promote the development of enterprises, but its impact on female career development is still controversial, mainly because existing studies have not gone deep into the operational level of enterprise ICT, have not focused on the research into the use environment of ICT, and have been lacking in quantitative analysis. In this article, empirical analysis is conducted through the use of the World Bank Survey Data on Chinese Manufacturing Companies 2012 and the Chinese General Social Survey, plus the adoption of the logit model. These studies reveal that 1) the degree of enterprise informatization and the degree of IT (information technology) support can significantly promote female career development, and 2) in terms of the influence mechanism, gender culture plays an intermediary role, i.e. ICT affects female career development by promoting an equal gender culture.

The impact of financial repression on manufacturing upgrade based on fractional Fourier transform and probability

Abstract This paper proposes a method combining fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) and a high peak-to-average power ratio suppression algorithm. Calculations show that as the order of the FRFT decreases, the peak-to-average power ratio of the signal gradually decreases; combined with the suppression algorithm can further reduce the peak-to-average power ratio of the system and solve the problem of the suppression algorithm affecting system performance. At the same time, this paper uses the 2012 World Bank survey data of Chinese manufacturing enterprises to study the influence of financial repression on the selection of financing channels of manufacturing enterprises. The research results show that financial repression has a significant impact on the choice of financing channels for manufacturing enterprises, which greatly increases the proportion of informal financial financing in the operating capital of enterprises and reduces the proportion of formal financial financing. Financial repression has led to an increase in the cost of formal financial financing, making enterprises choose informal financial channels for financing. Among them, large enterprises tend to choose commercial credit in informal finance, while small and medium-sized enterprises choose private credit It is possible to choose two financing channels, which reflects the ‘scale discrimination’ characteristics of financial repression.

“Lean in”: the moderating effect of female ownership on the relationship between human capital and organizational innovation

PurposeWith the aim of shedding new light on the characteristics of human capital in its relationship with organizational innovation, this paper develops a novel theoretical and empirical exploration of the characteristics of human capital, both executives' experience and employees' average education level, as well as the moderating effect of female ownership, on two different aspects of organizational innovation.Design/methodology/approachData were obtained from the World Bank's China private manufacturing enterprise questionnaire survey. The study employs regression analysis of a logistic model using 1,598 samples, because the dependent variable of an organization's innovation index is a binary variable.FindingsUsing World Bank survey data of Chinese private manufacturing enterprises, the authors find that executives' experience has a significantly positive effect on process innovation. Female ownership strengthens the relationship between executives' experience and process innovation. Moreover, the results indicate that employees' average educational level has a significantly positive effect on product innovation. Female ownership strengthens the relationships between employees' average educational level and organizational innovation including product innovation and process innovation. This study highlights the importance of simultaneously testing the effects of human capital and gender heterogeneity on organizational innovation activities.Originality/valueThis study explores the impact of human capital on organizational innovation activities in the context of the Chinese manufacturing industry. Moreover, organizational innovation activities are divided into two aspects: product innovation and process innovation. This study separately discusses the effect of human capital on these two kinds of innovation in detail. Finally, female ownership is selected as a moderating variable, and it is demonstrated that interactions of female owners with executives' experience and employees' average educational level have a positive impact on increasing different kinds of organizational innovation. The authors identify new boundary conditions for the domain of female research that are sorely lacking in the present literature.

Remittance and financial inclusion in refugee migrants: inverse probability of treatment weighting using the propensity score

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the impact on remittances on financial inclusion of refugee migrants. While financial inclusion is gaining traction in the humanitarian and development literature, the linkage with the potential to improve the wellbeing of refugees, who are part of an upward spiral in numbers, has not been tackled. We examine World Bank survey data of 1041 Syrian refugees, using the inverse probability of treatment weighting propensity score analysis (IPTW). The method minimises the influence of outliers and addresses unobservable and missing data biases, which can plague survey based data. We observe that common indicators of financial inclusion when applied to refugees, given their limited access to formal financial services, may introduce a bias as the informal financial sector and excluded formal financial sector services do contribute to inclusiveness. We adopt a broader protocol for our data, measuring financial inclusion through six metrics stemming from G20 proposals. Overall, there is an opportunity to deepen financial inclusion for refugees who receive or send remittances. The possibility of expanding the financial inclusion options, and for this to percolate through to greater social inclusion, proffers practical commercial steps and policy enabling actions.

Why Do Companies Choose Female CEOs?

For the career development of chief executive officers (CEOs), the existing literature lacks research from the perspectives of gender and the environment. Starting with the perspective of the environment, and through the adoption of the World Bank Survey Data on Chinese Enterprises and China’s Comprehensive Social Survey (CGSS), this paper addresses the question: “Why do companies choose female CEOs?” The analysis examines 15 aspects, including enterprise scale, age, industry, owner, product market, market environment, city level, etc. The research findings are as follows. (1) The corporate environment has an impact on CEO gender, and there are differences in its nature and the degree of impact. Enterprise size, state-owned shareholding, radiation effect, market environment, and gender culture have a significant negative impact on female CEOs, while product features, industry characteristics, and female owners have a significantly positive impact on female CEOs. (2) In terms of the impact mechanism, the impact of the meso-environment on female CEOs is significantly adjusted by the macro-environment. This paper extends the existing theory from the perspectives of gender and the environment. Relevant policy recommendations are proposed to provide a theoretical basis for the government to promote women’s employment policies and provide effective suggestions for promoting women’s career development.

Impact of financing constraints on firm's environmental performance: Evidence from China with survey data

Compared with developed countries, capital markets and financial systems in developing countries are often labeled as underdeveloped. Firms need funds to operate and to invest for pollution abatement. Private, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) generally face financing constraints in China, which may be closely related to poor environmental performance in recent years. Based on World Bank survey data from 2011 to 2013, controlling location area, industrial sector, firm scale, and ownership, the influence of financing constraints on firm's environmental performance is examined. It is found that minor obstacles in financing activities don't seem to impair firm's environmental performance. However, moderate and major obstacles undermine firm's environmental performance with high investment costs and biased incentives. The more severe the credit constraint, the higher probability of poor environmental performance is observed. In the end, targeted policy implications with emphasis to provide financing convenience for SMEs are addressed.

Micro-Prudential Regulation and Banks' Systemic Risk

This paper investigates how countries' micro-prudential regulatory regimes are related to banks' systemic risk. We use a bank-level systemic risk indicator that can be decomposed into a bank's individual risk and its systemic linkage. To proxy the strictness of a country's regulatory regime, we employ World Bank survey data.

Parlez-vous français? Language and agricultural aid allocation strategies in northern Mali

In January 2012, insurgent groups in northern Mali began a violent campaign against the central government. By March 2012, then-President Amadou Toumani Touré (ATT) was ousted in a successful coup. The ongoing unrest has drastically shifted the strategies foreign donors are using to allocate aid, particularly to northern Mali. While bilateral donors have drastically scaled back all programmatic aid, NGOs including Oxfam International and the Red Cross have stepped in to provide humanitarian aid. This shift from programmatic to humanitarian aid has left the agricultural sector particularly vulnerable. Since most of the food grown in Mali is grown in the northern region, such a drastic decrease in agricultural aid will have catastrophic effects in terms of projected food shortages. Furthermore, using evidence from new World Bank survey data gathered in northern Mali in 2015, we find that the agricultural aid being distributed by NGOs is not targeting those most in need. We find that French-speaking villages are more likely to be targeted for aid compared to non-French-speaking villages. We argue that in northern Mali, under the current sociopolitical conditions, speaking French makes these villages more attractive to aid organizations, regardless of their actual need for assistance. This appropriation principle means that aid is not going to the most vulnerable, but to the most politically or socially connected. We also find proof of a second layer of aid misappropriation. While Sonrai and Tamasheq-speaking villages receive less agricultural aid than French-speaking villages, the aid they do receive goes to those households most vulnerable to exogenous shocks. However, in French-speaking villages, the most vulnerable households are not guaranteed to receive agricultural aid. If desperately needed agricultural aid continues to be misappropriated, it could lead countries like Mali to become even more unstable.

Review on Gender and Poverty, Gender Inequality in Land Tenure, Violence Against Woman and Women Empowerment Analysis: Evidence in Benin with Survey Data

Inequalities in opportunities and rights between women and men have occupied many researchers over the last two decades. This study reviews literature on (i) gender and poverty, (ii) inequalities in land rights between women and men and their implications for the economic and social development of rural areas in developing countries, and (iii) violence against women in the rural population. World Bank survey data (3507 rural households) were used to analyze women's perceptions of agricultural land rights and violence against women in Benin. The Poisson model is adopted to investigate the determinants of physical violence against women in rural households in Benin. The results show that women are more vulnerable to poverty than men. Women are disadvantaged in access to productive assets such as access to credit and arable land, education, labor market, control of incomes earned in households, and are excluded in decision-making in households and institutions. The results also highlight that women in rural areas do not have access to land and do not participate in land management decisions. Based on the Poisson model, the results show that restrictions imposed on women by their spouses significantly increase the number of physical violence against women in households. Moreover, the results suggest also that an increase in the economic value of assets owned by women significantly reduces the incidence of physical violence against women in households. These results suggest that implementing development actions to increase incomes and empowerment women helps to reduce poverty, increases food security, reduces violence against women, and improves household welfare.

THE ROLE OF RESOURCE MISALLOCATION IN CROSS-COUNTRY DIFFERENCES IN MANUFACTURING PRODUCTIVITY

Misallocation of resources across firms leads to lower aggregate productivity. In this paper, we provide new estimates of manufacturing productivity differences across countries and establish by how much they would be reduced if such misallocation were eliminated. Using World Bank survey data for formal manufacturing firms in 52 low- and middle-income countries, we show that manufacturing productivity would increase by an average of 62%, but productivity gaps relative to the United States would remain large. We also find that lower-income countries do not have more to gain from reducing misallocation, as efficiency of resource allocation is uncorrelated with income levels.

The Influences of Institutional Complexity on FDIs in China

Using a World Bank survey data, we examine the effects of institutional logics on foreign firms’ research and development (R&D) practices and performance in China. We attribute the variation on R&D...

Signalling through the noise: private certification, information asymmetry and Chinese SMEs’ access to finance

Information asymmetry between Chinese banks and small- and medium-sized domestic private enterprises (SMEs) is a source of credit constraints. This paper investigates whether obtaining an internationally recognized private certification standard can credibly signal unobserved firm quality, reducing information asymmetry and improving access to finance. Examining World Bank survey data, I find that firms that certified firms are 1.68 times as likely as comparable uncertified firms to receive bank loans. This effect is strongest among smaller firms, for whom information asymmetry is likely a more severe constraint. China’s promotion of certification as a tool of regulatory policy has had the unintended consequence of mitigating policy shortcomings in another domain.

Remittance receipts and allocation: a study of three African countries

Remittances may influence household expenditures, poverty rates, development and investments in the receiving country. Using World Bank survey data from Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, the influence of remitters’ and recipients’ characteristics on remittance amounts and allocation is examined. Effects of the remitter–receiver characteristics on remittance amounts are generally similar between countries. Such similarities imply a potential similar effect of policies in these countries. Age, household income, frequency of communication, family relations with remitter and country the recipient resided in influence remittance allocation. Recipients in Ethiopia and Uganda are more likely to allocate remittance towards savings than those in Kenya.