03. Journals

3,120 items available

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https://hdl.handle.net/10986/2210

These are journal articles published in World Bank journals as well as externally by World Bank authors.

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Heuristics on Call: The Impact of Mobile-Phone-Based Business-Management Advice
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-02-22) Cole, Shawn; Joshi, Mukta; Schoar, Antoinette
There is growing evidence that business training for micro-entrepreneurs can be effective. However, in-person training can be expensive and imposes costs on the target beneficiaries. This paper presents the results of a two-site randomized evaluation of a light-touch, mobile-phone-based business-training service for microentrepreneurs in India and the Philippines. The results show that the training had a statistically significant impact on the adoption of improved business practices, with an increase of 0.06 to 0.12 standard deviation points when considering a binary indicator of business practices. The study finds no evidence of impacts on business sales or profits, though the confidence intervals are wide enough to include meaningful effect sizes (positive or negative). These results suggest that mobile-phone-based training can be a cost-effective and scalable way to impart business skills to micro-entrepreneurs.
Labor Market and Macroeconomic Dynamics in Latin America amid COVID: The Role of Digital-Adoption Policies
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-12-01) Finkelstein Shapiro, Alan; Nuguer, Victoria; Novoa Gomez, Santiago
This paper analyzes how a policy that lowers firm digital-adoption costs shapes the labor-market and economic recovery from COVID-19 in Latin America (LA) using a framework with firm entry and unemployment, where salaried firms can adopt digital technologies and the employment and firm structure embodies key features of LA economies. Using Mexico as a case study, the model replicates the response of the labor market and output at the onset of the COVID recession and in its aftermath, including the dynamics of labor-force participation and informal employment. A policy-induced permanent reduction in the cost of adopting digital technologies at the trough of the recession bolsters the recovery of GDP, total employment, and labor income, and leads to a larger expansion in the share of formal employment compared to a no-policy scenario. In the long run, the economy exhibits a reduction in total employment but higher levels of GDP and labor income, greater average firm productivity, a larger formal employment share, and a marginally lower unemployment rate. Finally, as a side effect, the policy exacerbates the differential between formal and informal labor income, both as the economy recovers from the COVID recession and in the long run.
Digital Training for Micro-Entrepreneurs: Experimental Evidence from Guatemala
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-09-22) Estefan, Alejandro; Improta, Martina; Ordoñez, Romina; Winters, Paul
Previous literature shows minor impacts of in-person business training in developing countries, but few papers study the effectiveness of digital training. A research partnership with a multinational company operating in the food sector of Guatemala enables the randomized evaluation of a digital training program involving the franchise store owners of one of its retail chains. The training program combined a mobile app offering access to reproducible video capsules and virtual one-on-one consulting meetings. The results of the randomized evaluation reveal significant impacts on knowledge, business practices, sales, and profits. An examination of the mechanisms underlying these results reveals that consulting meetings are crucial in inducing engagement with the app’s content. Program flexibility, internet access, and initial sales are also crucial determinants of training effectiveness.
Mobile Broadband, Poverty, and Labor Outcomes in Tanzania
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-02-06) Bahia, Kalvin; Castells, Pau; Cruz, Genaro; Masaki, Takaaki; Sanfelice, Viviane; Rodriguez Castelan, Carlos
What are the impacts of expanding mobile broadband coverage on poverty, household consumption, and labor-market outcomes in developing countries Who benefits from improved coverage of mobile internet To respond to these questions, this paper applies a difference-in-differences estimation using panel household survey data combined with geospatial information on the rollout of mobile broadband coverage in Tanzania. The results reveal that being covered by 3G networks has a large positive effect on total household consumption and poverty reduction, driven by positive impacts on labor-market outcomes. Working-age individuals living in areas covered by mobile internet witnessed an increase in labor-force participation, wage employment, and non-farm self-employment, and a decline in farm employment. These effects vary by age, gender, and skill level. Younger and more skilled men benefit the most through higher labor-force participation and wage employment, while high-skilled women benefit from transitions from self-employed farm work into non-farm employment.
Technology, Skills, and Globalization: Explaining International Differences in Routine and Nonroutine Work Using Survey Data
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2022-06-20) Lewandowski, Piotr; Park, Albert; Hardy, Wojciech; Du, Yang; Wu, Saier
The shift from routine work to nonroutine cognitive work is a key feature of labor markets globally, but there is little evidence on the extent to which tasks differ among workers performing the same jobs in different countries. This paper constructs survey-based measures of routine task intensity (RTI) of jobs consistent with those based on the U.S. O*NET database for workers in 47 countries. It confirms substantial cross-country differences in the content of work within occupations. The extent to which workers’ RTI is predicted by technology, supply of skills, globalization, and economic structure is assessed; and their contribution to the variation in RTI across countries is quantified. Technology is by far the most important factor. Supply of skills is next in importance, especially for workers in high-skilled occupations, while globalization is more important than skills for workers in low-skilled occupations. Occupational structure explains only about one-fifth of cross-country variation in RTI.