Who Are the Microenterprise Owners? Evidence from Sri Lanka on Tokman v. de Soto
Is the vast army of the self-employed in low income countries a source of employment generation? This paper uses data from surveys in Sri Lanka to compare the characteristics of own account workers (non-employers) with wage workers and with owners...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/05/9474330/microenterprise-owners-evidence-sri-lanka-tokman-v-de-soto http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6696 |
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okr-10986-66962021-04-23T14:02:32Z Who Are the Microenterprise Owners? Evidence from Sri Lanka on Tokman v. de Soto de Mel, Suresh McKenzie, David Woodruff, Christopher ACCESS TO CREDIT ATTRITION BUSINESS SCHOOL CURRENT JOBS DEVELOPMENT BANK EARNINGS EMPLOYEE EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT GENERATION EMPLOYMENT GROWTH ENTREPRENEUR ENTREPRENEURIAL ABILITY ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY ENTREPRENEURS ENTREPRENEURSHIP ENTRY COSTS EXOGENOUS SHOCKS FINANCIAL CAPITAL FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS FINANCIAL LITERACY FINANCIAL LITERACY TESTS FINANCIAL RISK FINANCIAL RISKS FINANCIAL SUPPORT FIRING COSTS FIRM SIZE FIRM SIZE DISTRIBUTION FIRM SURVEYS FIRMS HIGHER INCOMES HOUSEHOLD WEALTH HUMAN CAPITAL INCOME LEVELS INFORMAL SECTOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS JOB CREATION JOB GENERATION JOB SEARCH JOBS LABOR ECONOMICS LABOR FORCE LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET DYNAMICS LABOR MARKETS LABOR ORGANIZATION LABOR REGULATIONS LARGE FIRM LATIN AMERICAN LAWYER LEARNING LITERACY LITERATURE LOW INCOME LOW-INCOME MANUFACTURERS MBA MICROENTERPRISES MICROFINANCE OCCUPATION OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE PAID WORKERS PAPERS POVERTY ALLEVIATION PREVIOUS WAGE PROBABILITY PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT RATES OF GROWTH RESEARCH ASSISTANCE RESEARCHERS RETIREMENT RISK AVERSION SAFETY NET SALES SAVINGS SAVINGS BEHAVIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL SELF EMPLOYED SELF EMPLOYMENT SELF-EMPLOYMENT SHOP SHOPS SMALL BUSINESSES SME TEACHERS UNDERGRADUATES UNEMPLOYMENT UNIVERSITIES URBAN UNEMPLOYMENT VALUABLE WAGES WORK IN PROGRESS WORKER WORKERS WORKING WORKING LIFE WORTH Is the vast army of the self-employed in low income countries a source of employment generation? This paper uses data from surveys in Sri Lanka to compare the characteristics of own account workers (non-employers) with wage workers and with owners of larger firms. The authors use a rich set of measures of background, ability, and attitudes, including lottery experiments measuring risk attitudes. Consistent with the International Labor Organization's views of the self employed (represented by Tokman), the analysis finds that two-thirds to three-quarters of the own account workers have characteristics which are more like wage workers than larger firm owners. This suggests the majority of the own account workers are unlikely to become employers. Using a two and a half year panel of enterprises, the authors show that the minority of own account workers who are more like larger firm owners are more likely to expand by adding paid employees. The results suggest that finance is not the sole constraint to growth of microenterprises, and provides an explanation for the low rates of growth of enterprises supported by microlending. 2012-05-30T19:34:40Z 2012-05-30T19:34:40Z 2008-05 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/05/9474330/microenterprise-owners-evidence-sri-lanka-tokman-v-de-soto http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6696 English Policy Research Working Paper No. 4635 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research South Asia Sri Lanka |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
ACCESS TO CREDIT ATTRITION BUSINESS SCHOOL CURRENT JOBS DEVELOPMENT BANK EARNINGS EMPLOYEE EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT GENERATION EMPLOYMENT GROWTH ENTREPRENEUR ENTREPRENEURIAL ABILITY ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY ENTREPRENEURS ENTREPRENEURSHIP ENTRY COSTS EXOGENOUS SHOCKS FINANCIAL CAPITAL FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS FINANCIAL LITERACY FINANCIAL LITERACY TESTS FINANCIAL RISK FINANCIAL RISKS FINANCIAL SUPPORT FIRING COSTS FIRM SIZE FIRM SIZE DISTRIBUTION FIRM SURVEYS FIRMS HIGHER INCOMES HOUSEHOLD WEALTH HUMAN CAPITAL INCOME LEVELS INFORMAL SECTOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS JOB CREATION JOB GENERATION JOB SEARCH JOBS LABOR ECONOMICS LABOR FORCE LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET DYNAMICS LABOR MARKETS LABOR ORGANIZATION LABOR REGULATIONS LARGE FIRM LATIN AMERICAN LAWYER LEARNING LITERACY LITERATURE LOW INCOME LOW-INCOME MANUFACTURERS MBA MICROENTERPRISES MICROFINANCE OCCUPATION OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE PAID WORKERS PAPERS POVERTY ALLEVIATION PREVIOUS WAGE PROBABILITY PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT RATES OF GROWTH RESEARCH ASSISTANCE RESEARCHERS RETIREMENT RISK AVERSION SAFETY NET SALES SAVINGS SAVINGS BEHAVIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL SELF EMPLOYED SELF EMPLOYMENT SELF-EMPLOYMENT SHOP SHOPS SMALL BUSINESSES SME TEACHERS UNDERGRADUATES UNEMPLOYMENT UNIVERSITIES URBAN UNEMPLOYMENT VALUABLE WAGES WORK IN PROGRESS WORKER WORKERS WORKING WORKING LIFE WORTH |
| spellingShingle |
ACCESS TO CREDIT ATTRITION BUSINESS SCHOOL CURRENT JOBS DEVELOPMENT BANK EARNINGS EMPLOYEE EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT GENERATION EMPLOYMENT GROWTH ENTREPRENEUR ENTREPRENEURIAL ABILITY ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY ENTREPRENEURS ENTREPRENEURSHIP ENTRY COSTS EXOGENOUS SHOCKS FINANCIAL CAPITAL FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS FINANCIAL LITERACY FINANCIAL LITERACY TESTS FINANCIAL RISK FINANCIAL RISKS FINANCIAL SUPPORT FIRING COSTS FIRM SIZE FIRM SIZE DISTRIBUTION FIRM SURVEYS FIRMS HIGHER INCOMES HOUSEHOLD WEALTH HUMAN CAPITAL INCOME LEVELS INFORMAL SECTOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS JOB CREATION JOB GENERATION JOB SEARCH JOBS LABOR ECONOMICS LABOR FORCE LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET DYNAMICS LABOR MARKETS LABOR ORGANIZATION LABOR REGULATIONS LARGE FIRM LATIN AMERICAN LAWYER LEARNING LITERACY LITERATURE LOW INCOME LOW-INCOME MANUFACTURERS MBA MICROENTERPRISES MICROFINANCE OCCUPATION OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE PAID WORKERS PAPERS POVERTY ALLEVIATION PREVIOUS WAGE PROBABILITY PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT RATES OF GROWTH RESEARCH ASSISTANCE RESEARCHERS RETIREMENT RISK AVERSION SAFETY NET SALES SAVINGS SAVINGS BEHAVIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL SELF EMPLOYED SELF EMPLOYMENT SELF-EMPLOYMENT SHOP SHOPS SMALL BUSINESSES SME TEACHERS UNDERGRADUATES UNEMPLOYMENT UNIVERSITIES URBAN UNEMPLOYMENT VALUABLE WAGES WORK IN PROGRESS WORKER WORKERS WORKING WORKING LIFE WORTH de Mel, Suresh McKenzie, David Woodruff, Christopher Who Are the Microenterprise Owners? Evidence from Sri Lanka on Tokman v. de Soto |
| geographic_facet |
South Asia Sri Lanka |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper No. 4635 |
| description |
Is the vast army of the self-employed in
low income countries a source of employment generation? This
paper uses data from surveys in Sri Lanka to compare the
characteristics of own account workers (non-employers) with
wage workers and with owners of larger firms. The authors
use a rich set of measures of background, ability, and
attitudes, including lottery experiments measuring risk
attitudes. Consistent with the International Labor
Organization's views of the self employed (represented
by Tokman), the analysis finds that two-thirds to
three-quarters of the own account workers have
characteristics which are more like wage workers than larger
firm owners. This suggests the majority of the own account
workers are unlikely to become employers. Using a two and a
half year panel of enterprises, the authors show that the
minority of own account workers who are more like larger
firm owners are more likely to expand by adding paid
employees. The results suggest that finance is not the sole
constraint to growth of microenterprises, and provides an
explanation for the low rates of growth of enterprises
supported by microlending. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
de Mel, Suresh McKenzie, David Woodruff, Christopher |
| author_facet |
de Mel, Suresh McKenzie, David Woodruff, Christopher |
| author_sort |
de Mel, Suresh |
| title |
Who Are the Microenterprise Owners? Evidence from Sri Lanka on Tokman v. de Soto |
| title_short |
Who Are the Microenterprise Owners? Evidence from Sri Lanka on Tokman v. de Soto |
| title_full |
Who Are the Microenterprise Owners? Evidence from Sri Lanka on Tokman v. de Soto |
| title_fullStr |
Who Are the Microenterprise Owners? Evidence from Sri Lanka on Tokman v. de Soto |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Who Are the Microenterprise Owners? Evidence from Sri Lanka on Tokman v. de Soto |
| title_sort |
who are the microenterprise owners? evidence from sri lanka on tokman v. de soto |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/05/9474330/microenterprise-owners-evidence-sri-lanka-tokman-v-de-soto http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6696 |
| _version_ |
1764400692959641600 |