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Does the small business programme benefit self-employed workers? Evidence from Nicaragua

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  • Booyuel Kim
  • Rony Rodriguez-Ramirez
  • Hee-Seung Yang

Abstract

Business and skills training programmes have been a popular social policy intervention to increase productivity of the self-employed in developing countries. We study the Small Business of the Family Economy programme, a government business training programme designed to assist Nicaraguan self-employed workers. Using data from three rounds of the Nicaragua Living Standards Measurement Survey, we employ a difference-in-differences strategy to exploit variation in eligibility for the programme across time and economic activity. Our estimates indicate that the programme does not increase self-employed workers’ earnings overall. However, we find heterogeneous treatment effects for female self-employed workers with low educational attainment, which could be explained by increased working months and having a second job.

Suggested Citation

  • Booyuel Kim & Rony Rodriguez-Ramirez & Hee-Seung Yang, 2024. "Does the small business programme benefit self-employed workers? Evidence from Nicaragua," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 428-447, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevef:v:16:y:2024:i:4:p:428-447
    DOI: 10.1080/19439342.2023.2300138
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • M53 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Training

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