Matching Grant Impact Evaluation 2015 - Yemen, Rep.

Abstract
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Matching grants are one of the most common types of private sector development programs used in developing countries. Matching grants consist of partial subsidies, typically 50 percent, provided by government programs to try to spur firms to undertake innovative activities.

This study is a randomized experiment testing the impact of matching grants for business development services in the Republic of Yemen. The program provided firms with a matching grant of up to $10,000 as a 50 percent subsidy towards the cost of business services like finance and accounting systems, website creation, training, marketing, participation in exhibitions, and some associated goods such as office and IT equipment. The program was intended to run in two annual rounds, aimed to provide grants for business development services to 400 enterprises, 200 in each of two years.

The program was launched in August 2013 and widely advertised through a 45-day campaign. Firms applied between October 1, 2013 and December 26, 2013. The first year of the program took place in 2014, but due to civil conflict outbreak in late March and early April 2015, the second year of the program was cancelled. The dataset documented here is based on the first round.

Geographic coverage
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Aden and Sana'a

Universe
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Firms who applied for the matching business development grants. To be eligible, firms must be operating in Yemen, have offices in either Sana'a or Aden, be in operation for at least 6 months, not be in a prohibited activity (such as weapons manufacture), and have submitted a complete application form.

Kind of data
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Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure
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Firms were selected for the program from among the eligible applicants in public randomization events held in Sana'a on January 9, 2014 and Aden on January 12, 2014. The only variable used in stratification was city, with separate drawings occurring in the two cities. The events were open to the public, and attendees included some of the applicants, members of the project's Advisory Committee, and media. In each city 100 firms were randomly drawn, along with a reserve list in case any of the originally selected firms withdrew from the program. In the end this resulted in 216 firms being randomly assigned to the treatment group. Researchers chose a random sample of 100 firms from the eligible applicants in each city to be the control group for the follow-up survey.

Information from application forms of the firms in the treatment and control groups served as the baseline.

Mode of data collection
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Computer Assisted Telephone Interview [cati]

Research instrument
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Firms who applied for the grant had to fill out an application form. The form collected basic information on the firm such as employment level, sales, whether they export, types of innovative activities conducted in the past three years, and then basic information on what business development services they would like and an agreement to pay half the costs of these.

The follow-up survey was conducted via phone given that safety issues, gas shortages, and time constraints prohibited an in-person survey. The questionnaire collected basic company information such as operating status and employment, the firm's innovation activities and use of consultants, financing from banks and the grant program, and on the firms' exports and sales.

The firm follow-up questionnaire is available in Related Materials, but the application form is not.

Response rate
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54.3% (226 of the target 416 firms). Attrition was higher in the control group (51%) than the treatment group (40.7%), with this difference statistically significant (p=0.036).

摘要
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匹配型补助是发展中国家在私营部门发展项目中最为常见的一种类型。匹配型补助通常由政府项目提供部分补贴，比例一般为50%，旨在激励企业开展创新活动。

本研究是一项在也门共和国进行的随机实验，旨在检验匹配型补助对企业发展服务的影響。该计划向企业提供最高10,000美元的匹配型补助，作为对企业服务成本（如财务和会计系统、网站创建、培训、市场营销、参展以及一些相关商品，如办公和IT设备）的50%补贴。该计划旨在分两轮年度进行，旨在为400家企业提供企业发展服务补助，每年200家。

该计划于2013年8月启动，并通过为期45天的广泛宣传活动进行宣传。企业于2013年10月1日至12月26日之间申请。该计划的第一个年度在2014年进行，但由于2015年3月底和4月初爆发的内战，第二个年度的计划被取消。此处记录的数据集基于第一轮。

地理覆盖范围
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亚丁和萨那

总体
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申请匹配型企业发展补助的企业。为了具备资格，企业必须在也门运营，在萨那或亚丁设有办事处，运营至少6个月，不属于禁止的活动（如武器制造），并且已提交完整的申请表。

数据类型
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样本调查数据 [ssd]

抽样程序
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从符合资格的申请人中，企业在2014年1月9日在萨那和1月12日在亚丁举行的公开随机化活动中被选中加入该计划。唯一用于分层变量的是城市，两个城市分别进行单独抽取。这些活动对公众开放，参与者包括一些申请人、项目咨询委员会的成员和媒体。在每座城市随机抽取了100家企业，并备有备用名单，以防任何最初选定的企业退出该计划。最终，这导致了216家企业被随机分配到处理组。研究人员从每座城市的合格申请人中随机选择100家企业作为后续调查的控制组。

信息来源于处理组和控制组企业的申请表，作为基线。

数据收集方式
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计算机辅助电话访谈 [cati]

研究工具
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申请补助的企业必须填写申请表。该表收集了有关企业的基本信息，如就业水平、销售额、是否出口、过去三年内进行的创新活动类型，以及他们希望获得的企业发展服务的基本信息，并同意支付这些服务的成本的一半。

由于安全问题、天然气短缺和时间限制，后续调查通过电话进行。问卷收集了有关公司的基本信息，如运营状况和就业情况，企业的创新活动和使用顾问的情况，来自银行和补助计划的融资，以及企业的出口和销售情况。

企业后续问卷可在相关材料中找到，但申请表不可用。

响应率
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54.3%（目标416家企业中的226家）。控制组的流失率（51%）高于处理组（40.7%），这一差异具有统计学意义（p=0.036）。