Impact Evaluation of Small and Medium Enterprise Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean

This report was co-funded by research grant from the World Bank's research committee for a regional study evaluating Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Support Programs in Latin America and support from the poverty reduction and economic management division of the Latin America and Caribbean Region of the World Bank. The objective of the study was to rigorously evaluate SME programs in four Latin American countries Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru to gain insights into whether SME programs work, which programs perform better than others, and why. This report should be of interest to country governments, policymakers with responsibilities for SMEs, local researchers and the private sector in the region, as well as World Bank staff and bilateral donors. However, the findings and conclusions expressed in this report are entirely those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the World Bank, its Board of Directors or the countries it represents.