The Effects of Pollution and Business Environment on Firm Productivity in Africa

doi:10.1596/33662

Publication:
The Effects of Pollution and Business Environment on Firm Productivity in Africa

dc.contributor.author	Soppelsa, Maria E.
dc.contributor.author	Lozano-Gracia, Nancy
dc.contributor.author	Xu, L. Colin
dc.date.accessioned	2020-04-29T15:57:07Z
dc.date.available	2020-04-29T15:57:07Z
dc.date.issued	2020
dc.description.abstract	In this paper, we explore the links between city competitiveness and air pollution and business environment. Because competitive cities not only attract more productive firms but also facilitate their business, we choose to look at firm performance as a proxy for city competitiveness. We particularly focus on African firms because this region is developing fast, experiencing increasing pollution levels and the effects of agglomeration economies. We find two interesting results. First, the negative association between air pollution and firm performance can be seen at lower than expected levels of pollution. Second, the effects of capacity agglomeration on labor productivity growth are stronger compared to other regions. These findings suggest that cities in this region should address pollution issues soon, as they continue to grow fast and pollution levels becoming an increasing concern.	en
dc.identifier.citation	The Journal of Environment and Development
dc.identifier.doi	10.1596/33662
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10986/33662
dc.publisher	Sage Publications
dc.rights	CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holder	World Bank
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
dc.subject	CITY COMPETITIVENESS
dc.subject	BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
dc.subject	AIR POLLUTION
dc.subject	FIRM PRODUCTIVITY
dc.subject	AGGLOMERATION ECONOMIES
dc.subject	LABOR PRODUCTIVITY
dc.title	The Effects of Pollution and Business Environment on Firm Productivity in Africa	en
dc.type	Journal Article	en
dc.type	Article de journal	fr
dc.type	Artículo de revista	es
dspace.entity.type	Publication
okr.associatedcontent	https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/31599 Working paper version (pre-print)	en
okr.crossref.title	The Effects of Pollution and Business Environment on Firm Productivity in Africa
okr.date.disclosure	2020-04-09
okr.doctype	Publications & Research
okr.doctype	Publications & Research::Journal Article
okr.externalcontent	External Content
okr.identifier.doi	10.1596/33662
okr.identifier.report	148642
okr.language.supported	en
okr.peerreview	Academic Peer Review
okr.topic	Environment::Air Quality & Clean Air
okr.topic	Private Sector Development::Business Environment
okr.topic	Private Sector Development::Competitiveness and Competition Policy
okr.topic	Private Sector Development::Private Sector Economics
okr.topic	Urban Development::City Development Strategies
okr.topic	Urban Development::Urban Environment
okr.volume	(forthcoming 2020)