| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Field Trial Status | Before on_going | After completed |
| Field Last Published | Before June 17, 2016 06:42 AM | After April 12, 2018 09:11 AM |
| Field Study Withdrawn | Before | After No |
| Field Intervention Completion Date | Before | After February 15, 2015 |
| Field Data Collection Complete | Before | After Yes |
| Field Was attrition correlated with treatment status? | Before | After No |
| Field Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations | Before | After 3,596 business owners at baseline, Two follow-up surveys were conducted in April–June 2015, and in May–June 2016. Attrition rates at first and second follow-up surveys were 11.8% and 15.9 respectively and were not correlated with treatment status |
| Field Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms | Before | After Group 0 (control): 1,197 business owners. Group 1: 301. Group 2: 899. Group 3: 1,199. |
| Field Public Data URL | Before | After http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/2793/ |
| Field Is there a restricted access data set available on request? | Before | After No |
| Field Program Files | Before | After Yes |
| Field Program Files URL | Before | After http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/2793/ |
| Field Data Collection Completion Date | Before | After July 01, 2016 |
| Field Is data available for public use? | Before | After Yes |
| Field Public analysis plan | Before No | After Yes |
| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Field Paper Abstract | Before | After Efforts to bring informal firms into the formal sector are often based on a view that this will bring benefits to the firms themselves, or at least benefit governments through increasing the tax base. A randomized experiment based around the introduction of the entreprenant legal status in Benin is used to test these assumptions, along with supplementary efforts to enhance the presumed benefits of formalizing to firms. Few firms register when just given information about the new regime, but our full package of supplementary efforts boosts formalization by 16.3 percentage points. However, this formalization does not bring firms higher sales or profits, and the cost of formalizing these firms exceeds the added taxation they will pay over the next decade. We show how better targeting of these policies towards firms that look more like formal firms to begin with can increase the formalization rate and improve cost-effectiveness. |
| Field Paper Citation | Before | After Benhassine, N., McKenzie, D., Pouliquen, V., and Santini, M. "Does Inducing Informal Firms to Formalize Make Sense? Experimental Evidence from Benin”. Journal of Public Economics, 157, 1-14, January 2018. |
| Field Paper URL | Before | After https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IKlb9HjSzRHBdHbDBWSeLedw6UA7MTV1/view |