The Catch-22 of External Validity in the Context of Constraints to Firm Growth

Greg Fischer and Dean Karlan

American Economic Review, 2015, vol. 105, issue 5, 295-99

Abstract: We document the presence of multiple and varied constraints to small and medium firm growth. This presents both a practical problem for business training programs and a challenge to academic economists trying to identify mechanisms though which these programs may affect outcomes. External validity needs theory. This pushes researchers to narrowly defined and highly selected sample frames, which limits the potential for clear, generalizable policy prescriptions. Ultimately, larger samples, multi-arm evaluations, process documentation, and narrowly-focused, theory-supported empirical work are all needed, but the complexity of the problem limits what we learn from any single study.

JEL-codes: D21 L25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20151078
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.p20151078 (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/aer/ds/10505/P2015_1078_ds.zip (application/zip)
https://www.aeaweb.org/aer/data/10505/P2015_1078_data.zip (application/zip)
https://www.aeaweb.org/aer/app/10505/P2015_1078_app.pdf (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: The Catch-22 of External Validity in the Context of Constraints to Firm Growth (2015)
Working Paper: The Catch-22 of External Validity in the Context of Constraints to Firm Growth (2015)
Working Paper: The Catch-22 of External Validity in the Context of Constraints to Firm Growth (2015)
Working Paper: The catch-22 of external validity in the context of constraints to firm growth (2015)
Working Paper: The Catch-22 of External Validity in the Context of Constraints to Firm Growth (2015)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:105:y:2015:i:5:p:295-99

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Review is currently edited by Esther Duflo

More articles in American Economic Review from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().