Gender, Entry Regulations, and Small Firm Informality: What Do the Micro Data Tell Us?
PREMNote 142
Informality is pervasive in many developing countries, where the majoirty of businesses do not register. One view, linked strongly with Hernando de Soto and the IFC's Doing Business project is that the informal sector consists of potential entrepreneurs who remain small as the adminstrative and financial costs of becomign formal prevent firms for formalizing, but that formalization is needed to obtain access to finance, and have the incentive to grow without fear of government inspectors.

 

September 2009

The Economic Participation of Adolescent Girls and Young Women: Why Does it Matter?
PREMNote 128
This note summarizes available research on the impact of schooling and employment of adolescent girls and young women on earnings and poverty reduction, demographic outcomes, child development outcomes, and female empowerment. It identifies key implications of this research for the formulation of public policy.

 

December 2008

Gender and the impact of credit and transfers
PREMNote 104
Ignoring gender in the planning and evaluation of credit and transfer programs can lead to erroneous conclusions about who benefits from them.

 

October 2005

Gender issues in child labor
PREMNote 100
Developing effective policies against child labor requires attention to gender differences among working children. This notes reviews available evidence.

 

August 2005

Labor market regulations for women: are they beneficial?
PREMNote 94
Labor market regulations specific to female workers are common in developing countries. What are the labor market effects of maternity benefits and working-hour restrictions for women? And does such legislation offer female workers the protection it promises

 

November 2004

The impact of international trade on gender equality
PREMNote 86
Do women benefit from expansions in international trade? This notes review the growing evidence on this issue.

 

May 2004

Gender-differentiated impacts of pension reform
PREMNote 85
Pension reform can have a positive or negative impact on the gender gap in pension benefits. This notes uses examples from Latin America and Eastern Europe to illustrate how gender outcomes depend on the combined effect of changes in pension design features.

 

April 2004

Minimizing negative distributional effects of public sector downsizing
PREMNote 84
Downsizing has different impacts on men and women. Negative distributional consequences can be minimized using the Downsizing Options Simulation Exercise (DOSE) developed by the World Bank.

 

April 2004

Hurricane Mitch - the gender effects of coping and crises
PREMNote 57
Disaster management efforts should recognize that women and men suffer different effects and have different responses to crises.

 

September 2001

Gender and transport: A rationale for action
PREMNote 14
Transport can make a big difference in increasing women's productivity and promoting social equity. How best can transport policies and projects identify and respond to the needs of women?

 

January 1999