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Understanding how e-commerce platforms are affecting the small, informal firms that sell on them is a question of growing importance to researchers and policymakers in developing countries. This paper examines this question using data from surveys of firms selling on two e-commerce platforms in South Asia. The businesses selling on these platforms range widely in terms of size, degree of formalization, and other characteristics. Their main reason for joining the platforms is to access more customers. After joining, many sellers report (i) an expansion of their business, (ii) an increase in their incentive to formal registration, and (iii) increased visibility to tax authorities. Other less-widespread channels of impact include (i) the adoption of new or improved business practices and technologies, (ii) better access to finance, and (iii) greater flexibility in balancing home and work life. These reported impacts do not vary significantly by firm size or registration status, suggesting that the greater market access brought about by (selectively) joining e-commerce platforms benefits equally large and small (informal) firms. Given size and age, firms selling on the platform for a longer period are more likely to experience these impacts, suggesting that firms learn how to use the platform more effectively over time. Finally, firms on these platforms—even the micro and small ones, which tend to be informal—are from a select group, as they are owned and managed by individuals who are more educated and younger than the owners and managers of more typical firms in this setting.

In a canonical model of collective action, individual contribution to collective action is negatively correlated with group size. Yet, empirical evidence on the group size effect has been mixed, partly due to heterogeneities in group activities. In this paper, we first construct a simple model of collective action with the free rider problem, altruism, public goods, and positive externalities of social networks. We then empirically test the theoretical implications of the group size effect on individual contribution to four different types of collective action, i.e., monetary or nonmonetary contribution to directly or indirectly productive activities. To achieve this, we collect and employ artefactual field experimental data such as public goods and dictator games conducted in southern Sri Lanka under a natural experimental situation where the majority of farmers were relocated to randomly selected communities based on the government lottery. This unique situation enables us to identify the causal effects of community size on collective action. We find that the levels of collective action can be explained by the social preferences of farmers. We also show evidence of free riding by self-interested households with no landholdings. The pattern of collective action, however, differs significantly by mode of activity—collective action that is directly rather than indirectly related to production is less likely to suffer from the free rider problem. Also, monetary contribution is less likely to cause free riding than nonmonetary labor contribution. Unlike labor contributions, monetary contributions involve collection of fees which can be easily tracked and verified, possibly leading to better enforcement of collective action.

This paper explores the methodological differences underlying the construction of the national consumption aggregates that are used to estimate international poverty rates for South Asian countries. The analysis draws on a regional dataset of standardized consumption aggregates to assess the sensitivity of international poverty rates to the items included in the national consumption aggregates. A key feature of the standardized aggregate is that it includes the reported value of housing rent for urban Indian homeowners. Using the standardized consumption aggregates reduces the international poverty rate in South Asia by 1.3 percentage points, impacting the status of about 18.5 million people. Comparing standardized and nonstandardized monetary welfare indicators to other nonmonetary indicators suggests that the latter are more consistent with the standardized consumption aggregates. Overall, the results strongly suggest that harmonizing the construction of welfare measures, particularly the treatment of imputed rent, can meaningfully improve the accuracy of international poverty comparisons.