Firm-Level Data in the Mena Region: Research Questions, Data Requirements and Possibilities

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of research that uses firm-level data. The paper organizes the various areas of inquiry where firm-level data are used under two broad headings. The first is the analysis of productivity, its evolution and determinants, including the relation between productivity, trade, and trade policy. The second general area relates to enterprise financial behavior, patterns of external finance across firms, and the existence and severity of financial constraints faced by different types of firms, followed by their impact on investment behavior. The paper also points out that there is an emerging literature that examines the relation between financial constraints and productivity. The paper provides some thoughts on research questions that would be fruitful for researchers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to address, the sort of data that can be used to address them and to document availability of firm-level data in the MENA Region.

Corruption, innovation and firm growth: firm-level evidence from Egypt and Tunisia

“…To study the direct and indirect effects of corruption on innovation and firm growth, firmlevel data are used from the World Bank Enterprise Survey consisting of 3,489 firms from Egypt (2,897) and Tunisia (592). This data set is unique as firm-level data in the MENA region, especially on innovation, are quite rare (Atiyas, 2011). Additionally, given the secretive and sensitive feature of corruption, firm-level surveys typically lack quantitative micro data on corruption.…”

“…The MENA region suffers from a scarcity of firm-level and harmonized cross-country data (Atiyas, 2011), especially on innovation activities, making the micro-economics of innovation an understudied topic in the MENA. Therefore, this paper provides new insights 1 This study uses the term "MENA region" to describe the following countries: Djibouti, Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Yemen.…”