Microenterprise Survey 2005-2010 (Sri Lanka)

Abstract

Researchers from the World Bank, Sri Lanka's University of Peradeniya and United Kingdom's University of Warwick designed an experiment to measure the impact of providing capital grants to microenterprises. One-time grants of between US $100 and $200 were given to male and female-owned enterprises, some of whom had been affected by the December 2004 tsunami.

The baseline survey was conducted in April 2005. A door-to-door screening survey of households was used to identify enterprises with invested capital of 100,000 rupees (about US$1000) or less, excluding investments in land and buildings. The final sample included 617 enterprises in retail trade and manufacturing, operated by owners 22 to 65 years old, and with no paid employees. The firms were engaged in common self-employment activities such as running small grocery stores, selling tea, food preparation (e.g. string hoppers), sewing clothes, making lace products, and coir production.

Researchers then re-interviewed the owners of baseline firms at quarterly intervals, from July 2005 to April 2007, and semi-annually - in October 2007 and April 2008. Further follow-up surveys were carried out in June and December 2010. Overall, the survey included 13 waves of data collection.

In each wave, firm owners were asked about profits, revenues and expenses, changes in physical capital stock, and levels of inventories on hand. Each round also collected additional information about the firm or owner, in the form of special modules to measure owner ability, risk aversion, labor history, and other characteristics. In addition, the first, fifth, ninth, and eleventh waves of the panel also included a household survey, measuring household expenditure, school attendance, and work participation of all household members.