Abstract In Africa, entrepreneurship remains predominantly informal, but the rapid spread of mobile phone and Internet use is often viewed as an opportunity to boost the productivity and output of informal firms. Yet little is known on how informal entrepreneurs use these technologies for their business. The purpose of this paper is to open the black box of ‘mobile usage’ and investigate its effects on the performance of informal micro and small enterprises. To do so, we develop an original conceptual framework of mobile usage and apply a three‐step empirical approach based on a unique dataset of informal firms in Dakar. The first step allows us to identify rich ‘mobile usage’ measures that examine the different economic functions supported by mobile phones (coordination, finance and management) and the multiple dimensions of use (range and intensity). The second step identifies four user profiles with specific forms of appropriation: disconnected entrepreneurs, networkers, Internet explorers and digital entrepreneurs. The third step uses a stochastic frontier approach to investigate whether these profiles increase the economic efficiency of informal firms. Our findings suggest that while the most advanced uses of mobile phones have an incremental impact on sales efficiency, the potential for improvement remains limited. Only networkers' coordination uses show a significant impact on value added and profit, while the ways in which Internet explorers and digital entrepreneurs use a mobile phone have only a limited impact.

Abstract Although digital village projects have been vigorously promoted in China in recent years, the application rate of information and communication technology (ICT) is still low, while the ways in which governmental technology promotion turns into endogenous initiatives and the impact of informal institutions remains unclear. This study found that the neighbourhood effect, rather than institutional incentives, is decisive for ICT adoption. Perceived well‐being benefit was found to be an indispensable internal driver for ICT adoption, whereas government incentives varied across industries, producing a variety of impacts. The findings of this study provide practical insights into the effective promotion of ICT adoption, suggesting that government and community forces should be integrated, and that both cognitive and affective psychological drivers should be considered.

No abstract is available for this article.

Abstract Using primary data from Sierra Leone, this article explores the relationship between gender and occupational aspirations. Descriptive findings suggest largely similar desired occupational roles across gender; however, regression results show that the odds of females aspiring for public sector employment are half that of males. Lower ambition for public sector employment among females is associated with less favourable perceptions of public sector employment in key areas that are deemed important to graduates such as salary, status from employment, the ability to contribute to society, training opportunities and career progression. Such ‘opting out’ by university‐educated women has implications for women's inclusion in national development.

No abstract is available for this article.

No abstract is available for this article.

Abstract This paper examines whether Chinese aid impacts citizens' trust in government by matching geocoded data on Chinese aid projects located in sub‐Sahara Africa (SSA) between 2000 and 2014 to respondents from rounds 3 to 6 of Afrobarometer survey. Implementing an instrumental variable (IV) estimation to control for the potential endogeneity of aid, this paper finds robust evidence that Chinese aid reduces trust in government. The decline in trust seems to be because the aid projects stimulate poor assessments of government performance and perceptions that government officials are involved in corrupt activities. Replication analysis reveals that World Bank projects are no different and also reduce trust in government. Consequently, these findings reignite concerns about the unintended consequences of aid and the need to adopt implementation approaches that mitigate unintended adverse outcomes.

Abstract Formal digital credit raises hopes to decrease the gender gap in financial inclusion. However, up until now, it remains unknown whether these hopes are justified. Using nationally representative household surveys from Kenya, the present study aims to fill this gap. We find strong indication that formal digital credit, contrasting to expectations, has led to an increase in the gender gap in financial inclusion. We further find indication that the pervasive gender gap in the formal digital credit market is largely attributable to gender differences in socio‐economic variables in combination with a lack of contract term heterogeneity in that market. The paper suggests that policies to strengthen women's position in society and/or to encourage contract term heterogeneity in the formal digital credit market could decrease the gender gap in financial inclusion.

This paper empirically examines the economic impacts of COVID‐19 on firms' business activities and female workers in 10 developing economies around the world. Based on a survey conducted by the World Bank, we constructed a firm‐level panel dataset and investigated how firms' production and finances have developed during COVID‐19. We also investigated female workers' employment situations and how they were affected by firm performance. COVID‐19 indeed casted seriously adverse impacts in the developing world. As time passes, firms' production has been recovering, but their finances are worsening, and the female workers are facing worse situations in forms of higher probabilities of losing jobs and getting furloughed. Other variables such as workforce, capacity utilisation, and exports also play important roles in this process.