"We estimate the effect on business start-ups of a program that significantly speeds up firm registration procedures. The program was implemented in Mexico in different municipalities at different dates. Our estimates suggest that new start-ups increased by about 5% per month in eligible industries, and we present evidence supporting robustness and a causal effect interpretation. Most of the effect is temporary, concentrated in the first 15 months after implementation. The estimated effect is much smaller than World Bank and Mexican authorities claim it is, which suggests attention in business deregulation may be over emphasized."

"We estimate the demand for business training among entrepreneurs in Jamaica. We use either a re-framed version of the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) mechanism or take-it-or-leave-it (TIOLI) offers to elicit willingness to pay for business training. We find that the majority of entrepreneurs have a positive willingness to pay for training, which suggests some scope for providers to help partially recover the costs of offering training. Our results indicate that charging a higher price for the course screens out a large share of entrepreneurs, in particular those entrepreneurs with fewer assets, who are more risk-averse business owners, and those who do not expect to benefit as much from the training. Providing a credit option does not affect take-up of the course. We find that higher willingness to pay is correlated with higher attendance, and conditionally on paying a positive price, those who are offered higher prices are more likely to attend, pointing to psychological or sunk-cost effects. However, this does not fully compensate for the reduction in participation in training due to the extensive margin effect of charging higher prices. Finally, we find some evidence that business training encourages higher adoption of business practices and improves business knowledge.

Our follow-up survey suffered from high attrition, which limits our ability to detect impacts on sales and profits. We do not see that effects are stronger for entrepreneurs paying higher prices or with higher willingness to pay, but a lack of statistical power also means that we cannot rule out the possibility that those
who pay higher prices do benefit more. We conclude that the optimal price for governments to charge may therefore lie somewhere in between free or nominal cost and market price, and depend on how governments trade-off equity and efficiency."

"In Mexico, microenterprises and SMEs make up 99 percent of firms, employ about 64 percent of the workforce, and account for more than 40 percent of GDP. Given the importance of SMEs in the economy, governments in Mexico over the past twenty years have established a wide variety of SME support programs. How effective these SME programs have been in achieving their objectives is unclear.

This paper evaluates SME support programs in Mexico using a panel of firm-level data for two groups of firms-a treatment group that participated in SME programs and a control group that did not. The panel data have been created by linking SME program participation information to a large panel of annual industrial surveys (1994-2005) maintained by Mexico's National Institute of Statistics and Geography."

"Through the efforts of the irene|see network, the researchers have contributed to both theoretical and empirical knowledge around social enterprise and social economic empowerment that is pluralistic in disciplines, as well as methodology. The multidisciplinary studies presented in this volume contribute to the effort to understand the diversity of social enterprise experiences at national and local levels, as well as the way third and private sector enterprises and organizations are embedded in their respective societies. This volume aims to presents some of the findings, results, and recommendations of the researchn conducted through the irene|see network."

"Gender discrimination in Latin American societies significantly reduces the effective participation of women in the development of new businesses; therefore, it limits their possibilities for professional advancement, as well as development opportunities for their families. In an even broader context, inequality prevents women from efficiently contributing to business development in countries of the region. The possibilities of undertaking new ventures are diminished by this reality. Most of the women surveyed for this study mentioned that they have suffered discrimination while doing business because of their gender. In fact, the results of this research paper show that women perceive greater inequality in opportunities to create companies and face more barriers in accessing resources, mainly financial ones, to develop their enterprises. These barriers have a negative effect on the outcomes and growth prospects of businesses created by women. Indeed, they prevent women, who represent more than 50% of the population, from efficiently contributing to the creation of wealth and jobs in Latin American countries."

"This report focuses on social enterprise within the context of Peru; it provides case studies of successful businesses, profiles of entrepreneurs, and highlights the connection between social entrepreneurship and development. It ends with a series of policy suggestions to promote and help these types of enterprises through the public sector.

Este reporte desarrolla el concepto de empresa social en el contexto de Perú, dando a conocer casos de éxito, perfiles de emprendedores, la relación entre el emprendimiento social y el desarrollo y una serie de lineamientos para promover y apoyar este tipo de emprendimiento vía el sector público."

"The purpose of the information presented in this report is to inventory different organizations in Guatemala that could help build local capacity and catalyze and accelerate SME development and growth. The information includes specific activities, programs and services offered by the different organizations and where possible shows their interconnectivity."

"The purpose of the information presented in this report is to inventory different organizations in Nicaragua that could help build local capacity and catalyze and accelerate SME development and growth.

The report includes a contextual overview of Nicaragua, which helps to shed light on some of the challenges and opportunities for SME development and poverty alleviation. This information also puts into perspective some of the key sectors that have been the focus of capacity development organizations. The report also includes an overview of key donor activities, as they can often stimulate SME-related activities and also provide a sense of where large interventions in the SME landscape are occurring."

"O objetivo deste artigo é realizar, de forma pioneira, uma análise dos impactos dos programas de apoio às atividades inovativas nas pequenas empresas brasileiras. Utiliza-se o método Propensity Score Matching para avaliar os impactos dos incentivos fiscais, dos programas de financiamento, da concessão de bolsas e de capital de risco, com microdados da PINTEC (2010). Os resultados apontam que o conjunto dos programas de apoio à inovação estimula os gastos com atividades inovativas das pequenas empresas. Dentre os programas, os que se mostraram mais efetivos foram os de financiamento e os de apoio à aquisição de máquinas e equipamentos."

"Grants for agricultural innovation are common but grant funds specifically targeted to smallholder farmers remain relatively rare. Nevertheless, they are receiving increasing recognition as a promising venue for agricultural innovation. They stimulate smallholders to experiment with improved practices, to become proactive and to engage with research and extension providers. The systematic review covered three modalities of disbursing these grants to smallholder farmers and their organisations: vouchers, competitive grants and farmer-led innovation support funds. The synthesis covers, among others, innovation grant systems in Malawi (Agricultural Input Subsidy Programme), Latin America (several Challenge Funds for Farmer Groups), Uganda (National Agricultural Advisory Services ), and Colombia (Local Agricultural Research Committees - CIAL)."