Revisiting the ‘Missing Middle’ in English Sub-National Governance

The Missing “Missing Middle”

T he notion that the distribution of firm size in poor countries is characterized by a bimodal distribution with a “missing middle” is a widely accepted fact in development economics (for example, see Krueger 2013). The idea of the missing middle is that there are a large number of small firms, some large firms, but very few medium-sized firms. The purported fact about the missing middle is cit...

Small and Medium Enterprises Financing in Bangladesh: The Missing Middle

This paper aims to comprehend the intrinsic limitations of the market players in the financial system and how these create a situation of `missing middle` for small and medium industries (SME) financing in Bangladesh. A clear dualism prevails in the manufacturing industry of this country. While the SMEs maintains the biggest share in establishments and employment creation, large enterprises (LE...

Manufacturing productivity and sub-Saharan Africa’s missing middle

The Governance of National Community Health Worker Programmes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Empirically Based Framework of Governance Principles, Purposes and Tasks

Background National community health worker (CHW) programmes are increasingly regarded as an integral component of primary healthcare (PHC) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). At the interface of the formal health system and communities, CHW programmes evolve in context specific ways, with unique cadres and a variety of vertical and horizontal relationships. These programmes need...

Decentralization and Sub-National Governance: New Methodological Issues and Evidence