{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2025-09-24","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Wendy Cunningham","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"Wcunningham@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Sarika Gupta","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"sringwala@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Felix Lung","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"flung@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Nicolas Cerkez","affiliation":"Oxford University","email":"nicolas.cerkez@qeh.ox.ac.uk"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility package for What Do Small And Informal Household Enterprises Want?","idno":"RR_AFR_2025_427"},"data_statement":"All data is not yet publicly available but is expected to be made available through the World Bank Microdata Library in the future.","software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"18.5 MP"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for What Do Small And Informal Household Enterprises Want?","date":"2025-09","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"RR_AFR_2025_427","zip_package":"RR_AFR_2025_427.zip","dependencies":"Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2025-09-24","abstract":"A large share of workers in sub-Saharan Africa earn a living through informal, low productivity household enterprises. While structural transformation toward formal wage employment is viewed as the long-term path to improving livelihoods, progress has been slow. In the meantime, small enterprises will remain a key source of employment for many years to come, making it important to better understand how to help such enterprises thrive. This paper uses original survey data from 1,526 poor individuals across Liberia, Niger, and Senegal to examine the aspirations and constraints of urban household enterprise owners. Our results suggest that most surveyed business owners voluntarily started their business, are satisfied with their jobs, and aspire to and have plans to expand their businesses. Most report that they earn more than they could as wage earners, with wage earners confirming the observations. However, a combination of family and business constraints and shocks may hinder their ambitions, ability to act on their goals, and realization of those goals. That said, two-thirds of micro-enterprise owners said they would accept a wage job if it offered wages on par with their current earnings. We interpret this to suggest that households will continue to prefer firm ownership in the short-run until structural transformation can improve earning potential of wage employment in the long-term. The results suggest that household enterprise owners require a dual policy approach: one that improves current enterprise conditions while advancing longer-term structural reforms to expand access to quality wage employment.","geographic_units":[{"name":"Africa","code":"AFR"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Informal Urban Labor Markets"},{"name":"Africa"},{"name":"Aspirations"},{"name":"Job Satisfaction"}],"topics":[{"id":"J46","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Informal Labor Markets","parent_id":"J4"},{"id":" L26","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Entrepreneurship","parent_id":"L2"},{"id":" M20","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"General","parent_id":"M2"},{"id":" M50","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"General","parent_id":"M5"},{"id":" J28","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Safety \u2022 Job Satisfaction \u2022 Related Public Policy","parent_id":"J2"}],"output":[{"type":"Working Paper","description":"Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)","title":"What Do Small And Informal Household Enterprises Want?"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"technology_requirements":"Runtime: 10 minutes","disclaimer":"The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development\/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.","license":[{"name":"Modified BSD3","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/bsd-3-clause\/"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Wendy Cunningham","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"Wcunningham@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"datasets":[{"name":"Liberia  Household Enterprise Survey","note":"Source: data was collected by the authors during November 2021 - January 2022. Data file: \"Liberia_clean.dta\".","access_type":"Data is forthcoming in the World Bank Microdata Library."},{"name":"Niger Household Enterprise Survey","note":"Source: data was collected by the authors during January - March 2022. Data file: \"Niger_clean.dta\".","access_type":"Data is forthcoming in the World Bank Microdata Library."},{"name":"Senegal Household Enterprise Survey","note":"Source: data was collected by the authors during January - March 2022. Data file: \"Senegal_clean.dta\".","access_type":"Data is forthcoming in the World Bank Microdata Library."}],"technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise, version 24H2\n\u2022 Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 7 165U (2.10 GHz)\n\u2022 Memory available: 32 GB","reproduction_instructions":"1. **Obtain the data:** All of the datasets used for this reproducible package are forthcoming in the World Bank Microdata Library. Please see details in Section Datasets.\n2. **Place the data in the correct folders:** Once the data files are public and accessed, they should be copied to the folder \"Data\/\".\n3. **Adjust File Paths and Run Code:** Update the path in the global `main` of \"Code\/00_MasterDo.do\" and run the do-file to reproduce the results.\n\nSince all data are forthcoming, this reproducibility package includes the outputs generated by the reviewers in the reproducibility verification. They are in the \"Output\/\" folder."},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Forthcoming Data"},{"tag":"Open Code"}],"schematype":"script"}