Highlights The employment of female workers in Ethiopia’s garment industry has changed dramatically due to a sharp drop in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. In our sample, 41 percent of respondents employed in January 2020 were put on leave or terminated by the time of our survey a few months later. Migration appears to be a major coping mechanism, but many respondents report barriers. Most who have left the city desire to return if possible. Levels of food insecurity are high; rates are higher for those currently still in the city where garment industry jobs are located. Respondents are well informed about COVID-19; false beliefs or myths appear to be extremely uncommon.

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Having a reliable supply of electricity is essential for the operation of any firm. In most developing countries, however, electricity supply is highly unreliable. In this study, we estimate the cost of power outages for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, using a stated preference survey. We find that the willingness to pay, and thus the cost of power outages, is substantial. The estimated willingness to pay for a reduction of one power outage corresponds to a tariff increase of 16 percent. The willingness to pay for reducing the average length of a power outage by one hour corresponds to a 33 percent increase. The compensating variation for a zero-outage situation corresponds to about three times the current electricity cost. There is, however, considerable heterogeneity in costs across sectors, firm sizes, and levels of electricity consumption. Policy makers could consider this observed heterogeneity when it comes to aspects such as where to invest to improve reliability and different types of electricity contracts.

Trust in institutions is important for economic prosperity. We present results from a field study where we compare stated trust in institutions in general, stated trust in employees at institutions, and amount sent to employees at institutions using a trust game. Including more than 250 entrepreneurs in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, we examine levels of trust towards entrepreneurship development agency, district administration, tax authority, and electric utility. There is a positive and sizeable significant correlation between stated trust and trust game. Furthermore, we find that generalized trust is weakly correlated with trust in specific institutions both compared with stated trust, and trust game. Given the large heterogeneity in levels of trust to specific institutions, we argue it is important to elicit institution-specific levels of trust.

National park agencies in Africa often lack incentives to maximize revenue, despite the decline in conservation subsidies from the State. We explore the potential of pricing policy to generate funds for extensive conservation. We estimate recreation demand by international tourists for a popular South African park, calculate the consumer surplus and find the revenue-maximizing entrance fee. Our results suggest substantial underpricing and therefore significant forgone income. By charging low fees at popular parks despite increasing conservation mandates and declining conservation subsidies, national parks in developing countries are forgoing substantial revenue crucial for combating widespread biodiversity losses.