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This paper is the first to use a panel dataset from the African continent to investigate the relationship between formalization and firm outcomes. Instead of applying a binary formality indicator, it constructs a conceptual framework that regards informality as a continuum consisting of four degrees. The quantitative data includes 516 manufacturing enterprises which are analysed through a matched double difference approach. Moreover, the study explores participant observation as well as semi-structured interviews with government officials, experts, and entrepreneurs to explain the quantitative results and to examine additional effects of formalization. It suggests that the most informal firms do not benefit from formalization due to their underlying conditions. Other, more formal enterprises benefit but there is scope for increasing the benefits and decreasing the costs of formalization. Further, an improvement of the costs and benefits is not enough: better institutions are needed.

Since the initiation of the Doi Moi reforms in 1986, it is widely believed that Vietnam's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have critical characteristics that contribute to the country's impressive economic and social development over recent decades. Specifically, SMEs represent a source of economic growth, savings, job creation, and increased competition. Despite their vast potential, general knowledge on their characteristics as well as the opportunities and constraints they were facing was lacking, thus making it difficult for evidence-based government policy recommendations to be formulated. This chapter sheds light on the Vietnam SME database covering surveys over 2005–15, and represents the basis for the analytical work in books chapters. The authors outline the purpose behind the data collection—including sample design, firm and owner characteristics, attrition—comparing the data with the characteristics of Vietnam's overall enterprise population.

Myanmar's transition to a market-based economy is accompanied by rapid development of the private manufacturing sector, which has large potential for improving economic growth. The overall success of the sector, however, should not be taken for granted. Future advances will greatly depend on the policy and business environment in which manufacturing activities take place. It is, therefore, important to better understand the business environment and help inform policies conducive to sustainable economic growth. The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) of the Ministry of Planning and Finance of Myanmar, the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), and the University of Copenhagen, supported financially by the Government of Denmark, have initiated the project 'Towards Inclusive Development in Myanmar'. The project aims to strengthen evidence-based policy-making and analysis through a rigorous 'Myanmar Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Survey' of private manufacturing enterprises. The survey is the first nationally representative survey focusing exclusively on manufacturing enterprises and their employees. The data were collected in 35 townships in all regions and states of the country in 2017. The sample comprises 2,496 enterprises and 6,722 employees and is statistically representative of more than 71,000 manufacturing firms in Myanmar. The resulting matched employer–employee dataset is unique in its ability to provide estimates of individual-level outcomes, alongside company averages and results for both informal and formal businesses. The breadth of information is unprecedented, and it will allow analysts to study enterprise performance and the business environment in Myanmar in depth, including dimensions such as: regulatory framework (e.g. formalization), firm performance, labour force, technology and management characteristics, innovation, investment, sales, access to finance, and perceptions about the constraints and potentials of the business environment.