“Dividing the Wheat from the Chaff” : How to Get at the True Picture of Entrepreneurship Behind Misleading Statistics – Lessons from Ukraine’s Example
In recent years, a growing emphasis has been put on results measurement and also on using hard data to evaluate and steer policy. Given the significant efforts in many countries to simplify business entry, this has led to an interest in using data...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/06/9850209/dividing-wheat-chaff-true-picture-entrepreneurship-behind-misleading-statistics-lessons-ukraines-example http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10606 |
| Summary: | In recent years, a growing emphasis has
been put on results measurement and also on using hard data
to evaluate and steer policy. Given the significant efforts
in many countries to simplify business entry, this has led
to an interest in using data from business registries to
compare the number of businesses and the dynamics of
entrepreneurship across countries. Significant differences
between the officially reported figures on entrepreneurship
(which get reflected in international indices) and the real
situation mean that the design of reform interventions and
solutions can be seriously misguided. The government as well
as the donor community, and not least International Finance
Corporation (IFC), need to take this into account when
designing programs aimed at fostering private sector
development. The World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Database
(WBG ED), a joint effort led by the IFC Small and Medium
Enterprise (SME) Department and the World Bank Development
Research Group, is known as the most comprehensive dataset
on cross-country firm entry data available today. It
includes cross-country, time-series data on the number of
total and newly registered businesses and was collected
directly from the registrars of companies via
questionnaires. On the other hand, the IFC Ukraine business
enabling environment project has for several years been
collecting data on the number of registered and active
companies in order to structure the sample for business
environment surveys and to provide basic data on the
evolution of entrepreneurship in the country. |
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