Clarke, GeorgeLi, YueXu, Lixin Colin2014-02-052014-02-052013-11https://hdl.handle.net/10986/16907Based on a comprehensive worldwide firm survey, this paper looks at how the business environment and economic agglomeration affect job creation, holding constant conventional determinants of firm growth, such as firm ownership, size, and age. The analysis finds that economic agglomeration is most important, especially modern telecommunications, access to export markets, concentration of economic activity in large cities, and capacity agglomeration (the concentration of large firms in a city). Although the business environment affects job growth less than agglomeration does, some elements of the business environment matter, such as labor flexibility, unionization, and local skill levels. There is strong heterogeneity in job creation across firm size and age.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO FOREIGN MARKETSBASIC INFRASTRUCTUREBUSINESS ENVIRONMENTBUSINESS ENVIRONMENTSCOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGECOST OF CAPITALDEVELOPED COUNTRIESDOMESTIC MARKETDOMESTIC MARKETSECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMICSEMPIRICAL ANALYSISEMPIRICAL EVIDENCEEMPIRICAL STUDIESEMPLOYMENTEMPLOYMENT GROWTHEMPLOYMENT GROWTH RATEENVIRONMENTSEXPANSIONEXPORT MARKETSFIRING COSTSFIRM GROWTHFIRM LEVELFIRM PERFORMANCEFIRM SIZEFIRM SURVEYFIRM SURVIVALFIRMSFOREIGN OWNERSHIPFOREIGN PARTNERSFOREIGN-OWNED FIRMSHIGH WAGESHUMAN CAPITALINFLATIONINFORMAL ECONOMYINFORMAL SECTORINSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTINTERMEDIATE INPUTSINTERNATIONAL MARKETSJOB CREATIONJOB LOSSESJOBSLABOR MARKETSLABOR REALLOCATIONLABOR REGULATIONLABOR REGULATIONSLABOR SUPPLYLARGE CITIESLEGISLATIONLOCAL BUSINESSMACROECONOMIC STABILITYMANUFACTURERSMICROENTERPRISESMIGRATIONPERMANENT WORKERSPOLICY MAKERSPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOSITIVE EXTERNALITIESPREVIOUS RESULTSPREVIOUS STUDIESPRIVATE SECTORPRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENTPRIVATIZATIONPRODUCTIVITYREGULATORY BURDENSERVICE INDUSTRYSKILLED WORKERSKILLED WORKERSSMALL ENTERPRISESSMALL FIRMSMALL FIRMSTRAINING COSTSTRANSITION ECONOMIESTRANSPORTUNION MEMBERSHIPUNSKILLED LABORURBANIZATIONWAGESWORKERWORKERSagglomerationWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-6706