IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v13y2001i5p599-614.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Testing alternative measures of microenterprise profits and net worth

Author

Listed:
  • Lisa Daniels

    (Department of Economics, Washington College, Chestertown MD, U. S. A.)

Abstract

Using data from 448 microenterprises in Zimbabwe, this paper examines five alternative measures of profits and five alternative measures of net worth. The results show that the single-question proxies are too difficult for proprietors to answer, whereas the most complex profit measures generate many negative estimates. The best measure of profits, based on three questions, could be answered by all proprietors and it avoids recall problems associated with sales and expenses. Among the net worth proxies, all of the measures are positively correlated. Nonetheless, the proxy based on fixed assets, accounts receivable, debt, and inventory, showed the highest correlation with the full measure of net worth. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa Daniels, 2001. "Testing alternative measures of microenterprise profits and net worth," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(5), pages 599-614.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:13:y:2001:i:5:p:599-614
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.781
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/jid.781
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/jid.781?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniels, Lisa & Mead, Donald C, 1998. "The Contribution of Small Enterprises to Household and National Income in Kenya," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(1), pages 45-71, October.
    2. Vijverberg, W., 1988. "Profits From Self-Employment - A Case Study Of Cote D'Ivoire," Papers 43, World Bank - Living Standards Measurement.
    3. Vijverberg, Wim P. M., 1991. "Profits from self-employment: The case of Cote d'Ivoire," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 683-696, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ali, Merima & Peerlings, Jack, 2011. "Value Added of Cluster Membership for Micro Enterprises of the Handloom Sector in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 363-374, March.
    2. Martijn Adriaan Boermans & Daan Willebrands, 2017. "Entrepreneurship, risk perception and firm performance," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 31(4), pages 557-569.
    3. Masakure, Oliver & Cranfield, John & Henson, Spencer, 2008. "The Financial Performance of Non-farm Microenterprises in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 2733-2762, December.
    4. de Mel, Suresh & Herath, Dammika & McKenzie, David & Pathak, Yuvraj, 2016. "Radio frequency (un)identification: Results from a proof-of-concept trial of the use of RFID technology to measure microenterprise turnover in Sri Lanka," Development Engineering, Elsevier, vol. 1(C), pages 4-11.
    5. de Mel, Suresh & McKenzie, David & Woodruff, Christopher, 2007. "Measuring microenterprise profits : don't ask how the sausage is made," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4229, The World Bank.
    6. Pascaline Dupas & Jonathan Robinson, 2013. "Savings Constraints and Microenterprise Development: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 163-192, January.
    7. Anderson, Stephen J. & Lazicky, Christy & Zia, Bilal, 2021. "Measuring the unmeasured: Aggregating, anchoring, and adjusting to estimate small business performance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    8. Rodriguez Torres, Omar, 2021. "How different are necessity and opportunity firms? Evidence from a quantile analysis of the Colombian microenterprise sector," MERIT Working Papers 2021-019, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    9. Martijn Boermans & Daan Willebrands, 2012. "Financial constraints, risk taking and firm performance: Recent evidence from microfinance clients in Tanzania," DNB Working Papers 358, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    10. McKenzie, David & De Mel, Suresh, 2014. "Radio Frequency (Un)Identification: Results from a Proof-of-Concept Trial of the use of RFID Technology to Measure Microenterpr," CEPR Discussion Papers 10225, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Rodríguez Torres, Omar, 2022. "The productive role of social policy," MERIT Working Papers 2022-010, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    12. Willebrands, Daan & Lammers, Judith & Hartog, Joop, 2012. "A successful businessman is not a gambler. Risk attitude and business performance among small enterprises in Nigeria," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 342-354.
    13. Maazullah, & Bedi, Arjun S., 2017. "Returns to Islamic Microfinance: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Pakistan," IZA Discussion Papers 10965, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. de Mel, Suresh & McKenzie, David J. & Woodruff, Christopher, 2009. "Measuring microenterprise profits: Must we ask how the sausage is made?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 19-31, January.
    15. Nayoung Lee, 2022. "Measurement error and its impact on estimates of income dynamics," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(5), pages 2539-2550, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Martijn A. Boermans & Daan Willebrands, 2018. "Financial Constraints Matter: Empirical Evidence On Borrowing Behavior, Microfinance And Firm Productivity," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(02), pages 1-24, June.
    2. Willebrands, Daan & Lammers, Judith & Hartog, Joop, 2012. "A successful businessman is not a gambler. Risk attitude and business performance among small enterprises in Nigeria," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 342-354.
    3. Abdelkrim Araar & Yesuf Mohammednur Awel & Jonse Bane Boka & Hiywot Menker & Ajebush Shafi & Eleni Yitbarek & Mulatu Zerihun, 2019. "Impact of Credit and Training on Enterprise Performance: Evidence from Urban Ethiopia," Working Papers PMMA 2019-13, PEP-PMMA.
    4. Akoten, John E & Sawada, Yasuyuki & Otsuka, Keijiro, 2006. "The Determinants of Credit Access and Its Impacts on Micro and Small Enterprises: The Case of Garment Producers in Kenya," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(4), pages 927-944, July.
    5. Masakure, Oliver & Cranfield, John & Henson, Spencer, 2008. "The Financial Performance of Non-farm Microenterprises in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 2733-2762, December.
    6. Justin van der Sluis & Mirjam van Praag & Wim Vijverberg, 2003. "Entrepreneurship Selection and Performance," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 03-046/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 24 Sep 2004.
    7. Francesco Quatraro & Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Post-entry Performance of Newborn Firms in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 277-305.
    8. Vial, Virginie & Hanoteau, Julien, 2015. "Returns to Micro-Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: A Quantile Study of Entrepreneurial Indonesian Households’ Welfare," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 142-157.
    9. Michael Kremer & Jonathan Robinson & Olga Rostapshova, 2014. "Success in Entrepreneurship: Doing the Math," NBER Chapters, in: African Successes, Volume II: Human Capital, pages 281-303, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Jian Zhang & Linxiu Zhang & Scott Rozelle & Steve Boucher, 2006. "Self‐Employment With Chinese Characteristics: The Forgotten Engine Of Rural China'S Growth," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 24(3), pages 446-458, July.
    11. T. Paul Schultz, 1999. "Health and Schooling Investments in Africa," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 67-88, Summer.
    12. Susanna Wolf & Shyamal Chowdhury, 2003. "Use of ICTs and the Economic Performance of SMEs in East Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2003-06, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Charles Ackah & Richard Osei Bofah & Derek Asuman, 2017. "Who Are Africa’S Entrepreneurs? Comparative Evidence From Ghana And Uganda," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(04), pages 1-23, December.
    14. Pascaline Dupas & Jonathan Robinson, 2013. "Savings Constraints and Microenterprise Development: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 163-192, January.
    15. Jean-Pierre Lachaud, 2010. "Dynamique des profits des micro-entreprises urbaines et genre à Madagascar. Une approche de régressions quantiles," Documents de travail 151, Groupe d'Economie du Développement de l'Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV.
    16. Peter Lanjouw, 2007. "Rural Non-Farm Employment in India: Access, Income, farm, Poverty Impact," Working Papers id:913, eSocialSciences.
    17. Ousman Gajigo, 2013. "Credit Constraints and Agricultural Risk for Non‐Farm Enterprises," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 25(4), pages 648-662, December.
    18. Gurgand, M., 1997. "L'éducation est-elle rentable dans l'agriculture : Une approche duale appliquée à la Côte-d'Ivoire," Cahiers d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales (CESR), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 42.
    19. R. Mears, 1998. "Natural Resources and Sustainable Economic Development in South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 66(2), pages 123-131, June.
    20. Ruiz-Vargas, Yolanda, 2000. "Small business financing sources between immigrants and natives in Puerto Rico," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 387-399.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:13:y:2001:i:5:p:599-614. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.