Supporting small firms in a fragile context: Comparing matching and cash grants in Burkina Faso
通过随机对照试验，比较了定向用于技术培训和咨询的匹配赠款与更灵活的现金赠款对布基纳法索半城市和农村脆弱地区小企业的影响，发现现金赠款在生存率、商业实践、正规化和创新活动方面效果更好，但对利润、销售和就业无显著影响。
We used a randomized controlled trial to compare matching grants earmarked for technical training and consulting services with more flexible cash grants and with a control group. The experiment was implemented in a semi-urban and rural fragile setting where subsidizing innovative activities might be particularly important. Firms were selected on the basis of a business plan competition. After two years, beneficiaries of cash grants showed higher survival rates, improved business practices, a higher degree of formalization, and more activities for innovation relative to recipients of matching grants and the control group, but we saw no effects on profits, sales, and employment. Across all outcomes, beneficiaries of cash grants performed better than beneficiaries of matching grants, for them the treatment effects are smaller and often insignificant, though implementation costs were higher. Recipients of cash grants also increased their capital stock more and were more resilient to the COVID-19 crisis.