Islamaj, ErgysLe, Duong TrungPham, Thanh Minh2022-11-082022-11-082022-11https://hdl.handle.net/10986/38278Household businesses make up the majority of firms in developing economies. This paper uses a novel tax census database that covers the universe of tax-registered household businesses to analyze the entry and exit of owner-operated firms in Vietnam during January 2018 to August 2020. It documents new stylized facts about the survival dynamics of informal businesses. First, the entry and exit rates were about 5-6 percent a year for tax-registered household businesses during the pre-pandemic period. Second, an additional 25 percent of household businesses suspended their activity in a year on average, with the annual suspension duration exceeding 2.5 months. The suspension rate spiked to 40 percent during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Third, the findings show that the pandemic-related effects were more pronounced for businesses dependent on face-to-face interactions with customers and suppliers. However, these effects were short lived, and activity and earnings rebounded by August 2020. The findings may reflect the relatively short COVID-19 distress in Vietnam during the first phase of the pandemic, but they illuminate both the vulnerabilities and resilience of the household business sector.enCC BY 3.0 IGOHOUSEHOLD BUSINESS RESILIENCEINFORMAL SECTORINFORMALITY IMPACT OF COVID-19SELF-EMPLOYMENTINFORMAL EMPLOYMENTHOME-BASED WORKTAX REGISTERED HOME BUSINESS RESILIENCEWorking PaperWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-10223