IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/yaleeg/198559.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Catch-22 of External Validity in the Context of Constraints to Firm Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Karlan, Dean S.
  • Fischer, Greg

Abstract

We document the presence of multiple and varied constraints to small and medium firm growth. This presents both a practical problem for business training programs and a challenge to academic economists trying to identify mechanisms though which these programs may affect outcomes. External validity needs theory. This pushes researchers to narrowly defined and highly selected sample frames, which limits the potential for clear, generalizable policy prescriptions. Ultimately, larger samples, multi-arm evaluations, process documentation, and narrowly-focused, theory-supported empirical work are all needed, but the complexity of the problem limits what we learn from any single study.

Suggested Citation

  • Karlan, Dean S. & Fischer, Greg, 2015. "The Catch-22 of External Validity in the Context of Constraints to Firm Growth," Center Discussion Papers 198559, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:yaleeg:198559
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.198559
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/198559/files/cdp1045.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.198559?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angus Deaton, 2010. "Instruments, Randomization, and Learning about Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 424-455, June.
    2. repec:oup:qjecon:v:128:y:2012:i:1:p:1-51 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Michael Kremer, 1993. "The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 551-575.
    4. Miriam Bruhn & Dean Karlan & Antoinette Schoar, 2010. "What Capital Is Missing in Developing Countries?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 629-633, May.
    5. David McKenzie & Christopher Woodruff, 2014. "What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 29(1), pages 48-82.
    6. repec:pri:rpdevs:deaton_instruments_randomization_learning_all_04april_2010 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Robert T. Jensen & Nolan H. Miller, 2018. "Market Integration, Demand and the Growth of Firms: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in India," Working Papers id:12824, eSocialSciences.
    2. Alex Coad & Clemens Domnick & Florian Flachenecker & Peter Harasztosi & Mario Lorenzo Janiri & Rozalia Pal & Mercedes Teruel, 2022. "Capacity constraints as a trigger for high growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 893-923, October.
    3. Magda Hassan & Jaideep Prabhu & Rajesh Chandy & Om Narasimhan, 2023. "When Bulldozers Loom: Informal Property Rights and Marketing Practice Innovation Among Emerging Market Microentrepreneurs," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(1), pages 137-165, January.
    4. Ubfal, Diego & Arráiz, Irani & Beuermann, Diether W. & Frese, Michael & Maffioli, Alessandro & Verch, Daniel, 2022. "The impact of soft-skills training for entrepreneurs in Jamaica," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    5. Coad, Alexander & Domnick, Clemens & Flachenecker, Florian & Harasztosi, Peter & Janiri, Mario Lorenzo & Pál, Rozália & Teruel Carrizosa, Mercedes, 2021. "Do capacity constraints trigger high growth for enterprises?," EIB Working Papers 2021/08, European Investment Bank (EIB).
    6. Modeste Dayé & Romain Houssa & Paul Reding, 2015. "Policy instruments to improve MSMEs access to external financing in developing countries: A survey," BeFinD Working Papers 0106, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    7. Helke Seitz, 2020. "Subgroup Analysis of Investment Constraints: Evidence from Ugandan Microenterprises," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1920, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    8. repec:nam:befdwp:6 is not listed on IDEAS

    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. Lucia Dalla Pellegrina & Giorgio Di Maio & Paolo Landoni & Emanuele Rusinà, 2021. "Money management and entrepreneurial training in microfinance: impact on beneficiaries and institutions," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(3), pages 1049-1085, October.
    2. Sseruyange, J. & Bulte, E., 2018. "Do Incentives matter for Knowledge Diffusion? Experimental Evidence from Uganda," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 275896, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Antonia Grohmann & Lukas Menkhoff & Helke Seitz, 2022. "The Effect of Personalized Feedback on Small Enterprises’ Finances in Uganda," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(3), pages 1197-1227.
    4. Go Shimada & Tetsushi Sonobe, 2021. "Impacts of management training on workers: Evidence from Central America and the Caribbean region," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 1492-1514, August.
    5. Bassi, Vittorio & Nyshadham, Anant & Tamayo, Jorge & Adhvaryu, Achyuta, 2020. "No Line Left Behind: Assortative Matching Inside the Firm," CEPR Discussion Papers 14554, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Axel Demenet, 2016. "Does Managerial Capital also Matter Among Micro and Small Firms in Developing Countries?," Working Papers DT/2016/12, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    7. Axel Demenet & Quynh Hoang, 2018. "How important are management practices for the productivity of small and medium enterprises?," WIDER Working Paper Series 69, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Eduardo Nakasone & Maximo Torero, 2014. "Soap Operas for Female Micro Entrepreneur Training," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 87916, Inter-American Development Bank.
    9. Delius, Antonia & Sterck, Olivier, 2024. "Cash transfers and micro-enterprise performance: Theory and quasi-experimental evidence from Kenya," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    10. Andreas Georgiadis & Christos N. Pitelis, 2016. "The Impact of Employees' and Managers' Training on the Performance of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment in the UK Service Sector," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(2), pages 409-421, June.
    11. Mano, Yukichi & Akoten, John & Yoshino, Yutaka & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2014. "Teaching KAIZEN to small business owners: An experiment in a metalworking cluster in Nairobi," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 25-42.
    12. Nakasone, Eduardo & Torero, Maximo, 2014. "Soap Operas for for Female Micro Entrepreneur Training," MPRA Paper 61302, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Bernstein, Shai & Colonnelli, Emanuele & Malacrino, Davide & McQuade, Tim, 2022. "Who creates new firms when local opportunities arise?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 107-130.
    14. Valdivia, Martín, 2015. "Business training plus for female entrepreneurship? Short and medium-term experimental evidence from Peru," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 33-51.
    15. Jörg Peters & Jörg Langbein & Gareth Roberts, 2018. "Generalization in the Tropics – Development Policy, Randomized Controlled Trials, and External Validity," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 33(1), pages 34-64.
    16. Achyuta Adhvaryu, 2018. "Managerial quality and worker productivity in developing countries," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 429-429, February.
    17. Higuchi, Yuki & Nam, Vu Hoang & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2015. "Sustained impacts of Kaizen training," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 189-206.
    18. Tetsushi Sonobe & Keijiro Otsuka, 2012. "The Role of Training in Fostering Cluster-Based MSE Development," GRIPS Discussion Papers 12-14, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    19. Suzuki, Aya & Vu, Hoang Nam & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2014. "Willingness to pay for managerial training: A case from the knitwear industry in Northern Vietnam," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 693-707.
    20. Gonzalez-Uribe, Juanita & Hmaddi, Ouafaa, 2022. "The multi-dimensional impacts of business accelerators: what does the research tell us?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115461, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer/Household Economics; Financial Economics; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; International Development; Research Methods/ Statistical Methods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M1 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

    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:ags:yaleeg:198559. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/egyalus.html .

    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.