Doing business 2020 is the 17th in a series of annual studies investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
... See More + Doing business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies - from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe - and over time. Regulations affecting 12 areas of the life of a business are covered: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency, employing workers, and contracting with the government. The employing workers and contracting with the government indicator sets are not included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business. Data in doing business 2020 are current as of May 1, 2019. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where, and why. This economy profile presents indicators for El Salvador; for 2020, El Salvador ranks 91.
See Less -
This paper provides experimental evidence of the impact of an after-school program on vulnerable public-school students in El Salvador. The program combined a behavioral intervention with ludic activities for students aged 10-16 years old.
... See More + The authors hypothesize that it affects violence, misbehaviors, and academic outcomes by modulating emotional regulation or automatic reactions to external stimuli. Results indicate the program reduced reports of bad behavior and school absenteeism while increasing students’ grades. Neurophysiological results suggest that the impacts on behavior and academic performance are driven by the positive effects of the program on emotional regulation. Finally, the study finds positive spillover effects for untreated children.
See Less -
Policy Research Working Paper WPS8862 MAY 23, 2019
The El Salvador Strengthening Public Health Care System Project’s success resulted largely from the Salvadoran government’s unwavering commitment to and ownership of the Project and its goals.
... See More + The Project achieved its objectives and beyond and supported shaping the future provision of health care services in the country. The improvement of the quality of health services was ensured through major updates in medical and non-medical equipment, rehabilitation of hospitals, training of health-care workers, prompt response to emergences and expanding the health ministry’s capacity to analyze health data. The Project ensured for first time in the public services a full cycle of treatment for cancer patients by creating the National Radiotherapy Center for Cancer; improved response to infectious diseases with the strengthening of the National Reference Laboratory; and ensured protection of the investment on equipment with the creation of the National Medical Equipment Maintenance center and affiliated regional units.
See Less -
Sixteenth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies, Doing Business 2019 covers 11 areas of business regulation.
... See More + Ten of these areas - starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency - are included in the ease of doing business score and ease of doing business ranking. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in these two measures. Doing Business provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level. This economy profile presents indicators for El Salvador; for 2019 El Salvador ranks 85.
See Less -
Through substitution and income effects, remittances can alter an individual's allocation of time between market activities and household production, decreasing labor supply.
... See More + This paper uses propensity score matching and household surveys for 2006 and 2014 to estimate the impact of remittances on labor supply in the three countries of the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras). The results show that remittances are associated with a reduction in labor force participation, particularly among women. This effect is largest for Salvadoran women (13 percentage points). A sensitivity analysis finds that the negative effect on labor force participation rates of men in El Salvador and Guatemala and women in El Salvador is robust to potential selection bias. Receiving remittances is also associated with a lower likelihood of young adults being in school or at work, with this effect being robust to selection bias for young men in Guatemala. At the same time, the evidence suggests that remittances may be supporting small enterprises and self-employment in El Salvador and Guatemala. The analysis does not find robust evidence of remittances affecting the labor supply in Honduras in 2014.
See Less -
Policy Research Working Paper WPS8597 SEP 20, 2018
Sousa,Liliana Do Couto; Garcia Suaza,Andres FelipeDisclosed
The Country Opinion Survey in El Salvador assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in gaining a better understanding of how stakeholders in El Salvador perceive the WBG.
... See More + It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral/bilateral agencies, media, academia, the private sector, and civil society in El Salvador on 1) their views regarding the general environment in El Salvador; 2) their overall attitudes toward the WBG in El Salvador; 3) overall impressions of the WBG’s effectiveness and results, knowledge work and activities, and communication and information sharing in El Salvador; and 4) their perceptions of the WBG’s future role in El Salvador.
See Less -
Most evaluations of public works programs in developing countries study their effects on poverty reduction and other labor market outcomes (job creation, earnings, and participation).
... See More + However, very few look at other collateral effects, such as the incidence of violence. Between 2009 and 2014, El Salvador implemented the Temporary Income Support Program, which aimed to guarantee a temporary minimum level of income to extremely poor urban families for six months, as well as provide beneficiaries with experience in social and productive activities at the municipal level. Making use of a panel data set at the municipal level for 2007 to 2014, with monthly data on different types of crime rates and social program benefits by municipalities, this paper assesses the effects of the program on crime rates in municipalities in El Salvador. There are several possible channels through which the Temporary Income Support Program can affect crime. Since the program is associated with cash transfers to beneficiaries, a reduction in economically motivated crimes is expected (income effect). But since the program enforces work requirements and community participation, this could generate a negative impact on crime, because the beneficiaries will have less time to commit crime and because of community deterrence effects. Overall, the paper finds a robust and significant negative impact of the Temporary Income Support Program on most types of crimes in the municipalities with the intervention. Moreover, the negative effects of the program on some types of crime rates hold several years after participation. Positive spillover effects for municipalities hold within a radius of 50 kilometers.
See Less -
Policy Research Working Paper WPS8384 MAR 27, 2018
This study quantifies the outflow of human capital associated with migration from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras since 1990. To measure the outflow of skills and human capital and how this has changed over time, the study uses information on Northern Triangle migrants residing in the United States, a group that accounts for over 90 percent of all migrants from the three countries.
... See More + The results suggest that these migrants are, in general, positively selected into migration. That is, based on their observable characteristics, the individuals would have a higher earnings distribution relative to individuals who do not migrate. The results show a decrease in selectivity between the 10-year cohort of migrants who arrived by 2000 and those who arrived by 2014. This finding may reflect increased access to migration networks by lower-income households and individuals. The data suggest that the loss in human capital associated with a 10-year outflow of adults, as measured by foregone local wages, represented 1.9 percent of gross domestic product in El Salvador, 1.5 percent in Honduras, and 1.0 percent in Guatemala.
See Less -
Policy Research Working Paper WPS8334 FEB 12, 2018
Del Carmen Hasbun,Giselle Eugenia; Sousa,Liliana Do CoutoDisclosed
Doing Business 2018 is the 15th in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
... See More + This economy profile presents the Doing Business indicators for El Salvador Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulation and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies; for 2018 El Salvador ranks 73. Doing Business measures aspects of regulation affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year's ranking on the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in this year's ranking. Data in Doing Business 2018 are current as of June 1, 2017. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where and why.
See Less -
Doing Business 2018 is the 15th in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
... See More + This economy profile presents the Doing Business indicators for El Salvador. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulation and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies; for 2018 El Salvador ranks 73. Doing Business measures aspects of regulation affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in this year’s ranking. Data in Doing Business 2018 are current as of June 1, 2017. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where and why.
See Less -
The earthquake risk in El Salvador is more significant than the hurricane risk. Economic assets such as residential and non-residential buildings are at risk.
... See More + These assets that are exposed to natural disasters are referred to as a country’s Building Exposure. Risk reduction interventions could be prioritized in the highest risk ranked province of Usulutan.To learn more, visit: collaboration.worldbank.org/groups/cdrp.
See Less -
This technical note was prepared in the context of a World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program mission in the Republic of El Salvador in March 2016.
... See More + The capital markets in El Salvador continue to remain relatively small but have played a larger role in financing real sector needs in the last 5 years. The investor base is dominated by institutional investors. Two pension funds represent the primary investors in the securities market, followed by banks and insurance companies. The integration with Panama is a welcome development and will help improve opportunities for Salvadoran investors and issuers. The regulation and supervision of capital markets is shared, respectively, between the Central Bank (BCR) and the Financial Superintendency (SSF) and this required stronger coordination. The document contains technical analysis and detailed information underpinning the FSAP assessment’s findings and recommendations. Further information on the FSAP program can be found at www.worldbank.org/fsap.
See Less -
This Technical Note was prepared in the context of a World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) mission in the Republic of El Salvador in March 2016.
... See More + This FSAP Development Module focused on (i) financial systems issues, including competition and efficiency; (ii) financial inclusion and non-bank financial institution issues, (iii) public sector banks, (iv) financial system infrastructure, including payments, remittances transfers, and credit information systems; (v) capital market and private pensions development issues; and (iv) insurance. The Technical Note describes the background and current situation of the public sector and development banks, and continues with specific recommendations directly linked with the assessment and diagnosis performed. The document contains technical analysis and detailed information underpinning the FSAP assessment’s findings and recommendations. Further information on the FSAP program can be found at www.worldbank.org/fsap.
See Less -
This note was prepared in the context of a World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) mission in El Salvador in March 2016. Since the last FSAP, the national payments system (NPS) has consolidated and expanded.
... See More + The real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems owned and operated by the Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador (BCR) is the backbone of the NPS and is widely subscribed by both banks and supervised non-bank financial institutions. In 2013, the BCR launched a service for government disbursements called Sistema de Pagos Masivos (SPM). ATM and POS terminal deployment in El Salvador is below the average for the Latin America and the Caribbean, but above the average for lower-middle income countries. Notwithstanding these positive developments, the payments system remains exposed to certain risks and presents areas of inefficiency that the BCR aims to address comprehensively and in stages through a revised national payment system strategy. The note contains technical analysis and detailed information underpinning the FSAP assessment’s findings and recommendations. Further information on the FSAP program can be found at www.worldbank.org/fsap.
See Less -
This technical note was prepared in the context of a World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program mission in the Republic of El Salvador in March 2016.
... See More + The Salvadoran financial system lags behind its peers in terms of depth put it outperforms them in terms of competition and efficiency. Given the country’s relative low financial depth but competitive environment, there is room for expansion and financial development which can provide greater funding for the productive activities of the private sector. This technical note takes four main approaches to examine the extent of competition and efficiency of the Salvadoran banking sector. First, it examines bank entry and exit regulations and bank transparency to determine whether the existing framework promotes contestability and competition. Second, the note evaluates the degree of concentration in the banking sector and estimates direct measures of competition by calculating the H-statistic for the Salvadoran banking sector and by comparing it to those obtained for its regional peers. Third, the note evaluates efficiency by examining the behavior of bank spreads, profitability and financial intermediation margins and costs. Fourth, the note looks into the different segments of the loan market to evaluate how efficiently credit is being allocated. Finally the note ends with some policy recommendations. The document contains technical analysis and detailed information underpinning the FSAP assessment’s findings and recommendations. Further information on the FSAP program can be found at www.worldbank.org/fsap.
See Less -
This Technical Note was prepared in the context of a World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program mission in the Republic of El Salvador in March 2016.
... See More + This FSAP Development Module focuses on (i) financial systems issues, including competition and efficiency; (ii) financial inclusion and non-bank financial institution issues, (iii) public sector banks, (iv) financial system infrastructure, including payments, remittances transfers, and credit information systems; (v) capital market and private pensions development issues; and (iv) insurance. This note is arranged as follows: Section I gives the Background and Current Situation. Section II describes Extension of the Regulatory Perimeter and Section III discusses about Select Latin American Experiences on Supervision Of NBSCI. The document contains technical analysis and detailed information underpinning the FSAP assessment’s findings and recommendations. Further information on the FSAP program can be found at www.worldbank.org/fsap.
See Less -
This Technical Note was prepared in the context of a World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program mission in the Republic of El Salvador in March 2016.
... See More + Despite the challenging economic environment, El Salvador has made significant strides towards a more inclusive financial sector. However, El Salvador faces a number of challenges, including regulatory weaknesses and uncertainty, anti-competitive practices, and a fragile security situation that impacts investment and innovation. The country still presents low levels of access to and use of a range of financial services. The financial sector is diversified, but some challenges need to be overcome to increase competition and innovation. There seem to be no excessive legal barriers to entry for new banks and the framework allows for a diverse range of large and small deposit-taking entities. The microfinance sector is diverse and competitive and reforms are underway to strengthen regulation and supervision, but capacity is an issue. Also, the microfinance prudential regulation should be improved to be in line with international good practices and standards. Reforms are needed to spur the use of electronic accounts and transactions and to improve the draft rules for simplified accounts. Further progress could be made by allowing bank and nonbank financial institutions access to and use of telecommunications infrastructure on a non-discriminatory basis. An effective consumer protection legal, regulatory and supervisory framework is needed to ensure healthy financial inclusion. The Note contains technical analysis underpinning the FSAP findings and recommendations. Given the requested focus on digital finance and consumer protection, certain areas relevant to financial inclusion – notably small and medium enterprise finance, financial education, microfinance regulation and supervision– have been addressed in an abbreviated manner in this Technical Note. Although this Note incorporates some insights from the Technical Notes covering Financial Infrastructure, Non-Bank Savings and Credit Institutions (NBSCI) and Public Banks, not all related issues are incorporated in this Note, so the other Technical Notes should be read for a more comprehensive view of Salvadoran financial inclusion.
See Less -
This Financial Sector Assessment (FSA) summarizes the developmental aspects of the 2016 FSAPreport for the Republic of El Salvador. A World Bank mission visited San Salvador from March 6 to 16, 2016 to review the developmental aspects of the Financial Sector Assessment Program(FSAP) conducted in 2010.1 As previously agreed with the authorities, this FSAP DevelopmentModule focused on (i) financial systems issues, including competition and efficiency; (ii) financial inclusion and non-bank financial institution issues, (iii) public sector banks, (iv) financial system infrastructure, including payments, remittances transfers, and credit information systems; (v) capital market and private pensions development issues; and (vi) insurance.
... See More + The reportsummarizes the diagnostic findings, progress made since the last FSAP, and recommendations forfurther regulatory, institutional and market development actions. The executive summary, following next, lists the main highlights and conclusions of this FSAP mission.
See Less -
Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) 113097 NOV 01, 2016
This economy profile presents the Doing Business indicators for El Salvador. To allow useful comparison, it also provides data for other selected economies (comparator economies) for each indicator.
... See More + Doing Business 2017 is the 14th in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business; for 2016 El Salvador ranks 86. Doing Business sheds light on how easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-size business when complying with relevant regulations. It measures and tracks changes in regulations affecting 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation. Doing Business 2017 presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms have worked, where and why. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2016 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January–December 2015).
See Less -
The study uses a cluster-randomized trial among 1,578 children from 979 households in rural El Salvador to test the impacts of TOMS shoe donations on children's time allocation, school attendance, health, self-esteem, and aid dependency.
... See More + Results indicate high levels of usage and approval of the shoes by children in the treatment group, and time diaries show modest evidence that the donated shoes allocated children's time toward outdoor activities. Difference-in-difference and ANCOVA estimates find generally insignificant impacts on overall health, foot health, and self-esteem but small positive impacts on school attendance for boys. Children receiving the shoes were significantly more likely to state that outsiders should provide for the needs of their family. Thus, in a context where most children already own at least one pair of shoes, the overall impact of the shoe donation program appears to be negligible, illustrating the importance of more careful targeting of in-kind donation programs.
See Less -
Policy Research Working Paper WPS7822 SEP 14, 2016
