Editor's Note

摘要

The June 2018 issue of the JDE includes six outstanding articles. The first article is co-authored by Martjin Boermans and Daan Willebrands. They examine the effect of financial constraints on firm performance using a sample of small business owners who are clients at a microfinance institution (MFI). Financial Constraints Matter: Empirical Evidence on Borrowing Behavior; Microfinance and Firm Productivity applies an alternative measure of financial constraints based on actual lending and borrowing behavior to test how borrowing affects firm productivity. The authors survey entrepreneurs from Tanzania to analyze the relationship between financial constraints and labor productivity. They use OLS regression and propensity score matching techniques to show that financial constraints impede labor productivity and are important barriers to successful entrepreneurship. Further tests suggest financial constraints matter regardless of the measurement method used; thereby comforting researchers in a fragmented field that applies a wide range of financial constraints variables.