Micro-credits and start-up subsidies

  • Entrepreneurship for the poor in developing countries Updated

    Well-designed entrepreneurship programs show promise for improving earnings and livelihoods of poor workers

    Yoonyoung Cho, May 2024
    Can entrepreneurship programs be successful labor market policies for the poor? A large share of workers in developing countries are self-employed (mostly own-account workers without paid employees, often interchangeably used as micro entrepreneurs). Their share among all workers has not changed much over the past two decades in the developing world. Entrepreneurship programs provide access to finance (or assets) and advisory and networking services as well as business training with the aim of boosting workers’ earnings and reducing poverty. Programs vary in design, which can affect their impact on outcomes. Recent studies have identified some promising approaches that are yielding positive results, such as combining training and financial support.
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  • Microfinance and rural non-farm employment in developing countries

    Expansion of microfinance to rural areas may reduce credit constraints, helping non-farm sector growth, employment, and development

    Shyamal Chowdhury, April 2017
    The rural non-farm sector plays an important role in diversifying income for rural households in developing countries and has the potential to emerge as a major source of employment. In some cases it has outgrown the agricultural sector, in part due to the expansion of credit through microfinance institutions that are supported by governments, donor agencies, and businesses. However, future expansion of the rural non-farm sector requires increased flexibility in credit contracts, as well as decreasing the cost of credit and the delivery of complementary inputs, e.g. skills training.
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  • Financing high-potential entrepreneurship

    Government should create an enabling environment—for entrepreneurs and investors—rather than try to pick “winners”

    Ramana Nanda, April 2016
    Entrepreneurship is essential to job creation and to productivity growth and therefore is an important matter for government policy. However, policymakers face a difficult challenge because successful growth for a few firms—which cannot easily be identified in advance—is accompanied by widespread failure for most other new firms. Predicting which firms will fail and which will succeed is nearly impossible. Instead of futilely trying to pick winners, governments can play a useful role in facilitating the growth of the most promising firms by setting the conditions for efficient trial-and-error experimentation across firms.
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  • Start-up subsidies for the unemployed: Opportunities and limitations

    Financial support during business start-up is an effective active labor market policy tool for escaping unemployment

    Marco Caliendo, March 2016
    Turning unemployment into self-employment is a suitable alternative to traditional active labor market policies in many developed countries. Start-up subsidies can assist unemployed workers in setting up their own business. This option can be especially interesting for people whose work is undervalued in paid employment or in situations where job offers are limited because of group-specific labor market constraints or structural changes. Furthermore, start-up subsidies are potentially associated with a “double dividend” if the subsidized businesses prosper, strengthen the economy, and create additional jobs in the future.
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