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Islam, Asif M.

Development Economics, Enterprise Analysis Group

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Development Economics, Enterprise Analysis Group

Last updated April 6, 2023

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Economic Growth and Crime against Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Developing Economies

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-02) Islam, Asif

Several studies have explored the relationship between economy-level crime rates or individual-level crime and economic growth. However, few studies have examined the relationship between economic growth and crime against firms. This study uses data for about 12,000 firms in 27 developing countries and finds that economic growth is negatively associated with crime. This relationship is stronger for small and medium firms than large firms. The study also explores several economy-wide factors and their influence on the growth-crime relationship for small and medium enterprises. The results are robust to various sensitivity checks.
Are There More Female Managers in the Retail Sector? Evidence from Survey Data in Developing Countries

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-04) Amin, Mohammad ; Islam, Asif

This paper uses firm-level data for 87 developing countries to analyze how the likelihood of a firm having female vs. male top manager varies across sectors. The service sector is often considered to be more favorable toward women compared with men vis-à-vis the manufacturing sector. Although the exploration of the data confirms a significantly higher presence of female managers in services vs. manufacturing, the finding is entirely driven by retail firms, with little contribution from other service sectors, such as wholesale, construction, and other services. The analysis also finds that the higher presence of female managers in the retail sector vs. manufacturing is much higher among the relatively small firms and firms located in the relatively small cities. These findings could serve as useful inputs for the design of optimal policy measures aimed at promoting gender equality in a country.
Does Mandating Nondiscrimination in Hiring Practices Influence Women's Employment? Evidence Using Firm-level Data

(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-10) Amin, Mohammad ; Islam, Asif

This study explores the relationship between mandating a nondiscrimination clause in hiring practices along gender lines and the employment of women versus men in 58 developing countries. The study finds a strong positive relationship between a nondiscrimination in hiring clause and women's relative to men's employment. The relationship is robust to several controls at the firm and country levels. The results also show sharp heterogeneity in the relationship between the nondiscrimination in hiring clause and women's versus men's employment, with the relationship being much larger in richer countries and in countries with more women in the population as well as among relatively smaller firms.
Entrepreneurship and the Allocation of Government Spending Under Imperfect Markets

(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2015-01) Islam, Asif

Previous studies have established a negative relationship between total government spending and entrepreneurship activity. However, the relationship between the composition of government spending and entrepreneurial activity has been woefully under-researched. This paper fills this gap in the literature by empirically exploring the relationship between government spending on social and public goods and entrepreneurial activity under the assumption of credit market imperfections. By combining macroeconomic government spending data with individual-level entrepreneurship data, the analysis finds a positive relationship between increasing the share of social and public goods at the cost of private subsidies and entrepreneurship while confirming a negative relationship between total government consumption and entrepreneurial activity. The implication may be that expansion of total government spending includes huge increases in private subsidies, at the cost of social and public goods, and is detrimental for entrepreneurship.
Women Managers and the Gender-Based Gap in Access to Education: Evidence from Firm-Level Data in Developing Countries

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-05) Amin, Mohammad ; Islam, Asif

Several studies explore the differences in men’s and women’s labor market participation rates and wages. Some of these differences have been linked to gender disparities in education attainment and access. The present paper contributes to this literature by analyzing the relationship between the proclivity of a firm to have a female top manager and access to education among women relative to men in the country. The paper combines the literature on women’s careers in management, which has mostly focused on developed countries, with the development literature that has emphasized the importance of access to education. Using firm-level data for 73 developing countries, the analysis finds strong evidence that countries with a higher proportion of female top managers also have higher enrollment rates for women relative to men in primary, secondary, and tertiary education.
Does Paternity Leave Matter for Female Employment in Developing Economies?: Evidence from Firm Data

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-03) Amin, Mohammad ; Islam, Asif ; Sakhonchik, Alena

For a sample of 53 developing countries, the results show that women's employment among private firms is significantly higher in countries that mandate paternity leave versus those that do not. A conservative estimate suggests an increase of 6.8 percentage points in the proportion of women workers associated with the mandating of paternity leave.
An Exploration of the Relationship between Police Presence, Crime, and Business in Developing Countries

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-02) Islam, Asif

Economic theory predicts that a rise in police presence will reduce criminal activity. However several studies in the literature have found mixed results. This study adds to the literature by exploring the relationship between the size of the police force and crime experienced by firms. Using survey data for about 12,000 firms in a cross-section of 27 developing countries, the study finds that increasing the size of the police force is negatively associated with crime experienced by firms. The results are confirmed using a panel of firms for a subset of countries for which data are available. The study also finds that this negative relationship is stronger under certain macro-economic circumstances.
Absent Laws and Missing Women: Can Domestic Violence Legislation Reduce Female Mortality?

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-04) Amin, Mohammad ; Islam, Asif ; Lopez-Claros, Augusto

This study contributes to the literature on legal institutions and determinants of adult mortality. The paper explores the relationship between the presence of domestic violence legislation and women-to-men adult mortality rates. Using panel data for about 95 economies between 1990 and 2012, the analysis finds that having domestic violence legislation leads to lower women-to-men adult mortality rates. According to conservative estimations, domestic violence legislation would have saved about 33 million women between 1990 and 2012. The negative relationship between domestic violence legislation and women-to-men adult mortality rates is robust to several checks and also confirmed using the instrumental variables approach.
Unequal Laws and the Disempowerment of Women in the Labor Market: Evidence from Firm-Level Data

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-09) Islam, Asif ; Muzi, Silvia ; Amin, Mohammad

Institutions are defined as the set of rules that govern human interactions. When these rules are discriminatory, they may disempower segments of a population in the economic spheres of activity. This study explores whether laws that discriminate against women influence their engagement in the economy. The study adopts a holistic approach, exploring an overall measure of unequal laws also known as legal gender disparities, and relates it to several labor market outcomes for women. Using data for more than 60,000 firms across 104 economies, the study finds that unequal laws not only discourage women's participation in the private sector workforce, but also their likelihood to become top managers and owners of firms. Suggestive evidence indicates that access to finance and corruption are pathways by which legal gender disparities disempower women in the labor market.
The Labor Productivity Gap between Female and Male-Managed Firms in the Formal Private Sector

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-05) Islam, Asif ; Gaddis, Isis ; Palacios-Lopez, Amparo ; Amin, Mohammad

This study analyzes gender differences in labor productivity in the formal private sector, using data from 128 mostly developing economies. The results reveal a sizable unconditional gap, with labor productivity being approximately 11 percent lower among female- than male-managed firms. The analyses are based on female management, which is more strongly associated with labor productivity than female participation in ownership, which has been the focus of most previous studies. Decomposition techniques reveal several factors that contribute to lower labor productivity of female-managed firms relative to male-managed firms: fewer female- than male-managed firms protect themselves from crime and power outages, have their own websites, and are (co-) owned by foreigners. In addition, in the manufacturing sector, female-managed firms are less capitalized and have lower labor cost than male-managed firms.