The net economic benefits of microenterprise assistance projects in Burkina Faso, Brazil, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and Peru are compared in order to determine the factors responsible for project success. All except the project in Peru were designed and implemented by private voluntary organizations (PVO”s). Following an overview of the microenterprise sector, the paper describes the methodology used to calculate project benefits. Based on sales, profits, wages, and employment data, three measures of net economic benefit can be calculated: (1) the minimum estimate, derived from the increase in value added to the firm with a deduction for the opportunity cost of labor; (2) the maximum estimate, which assumes lower labor opportunity costs; and (3) the most likely estimate, which falls in between the above two extremes by factoring in omitted variables. Separate chapters analyze each project, describing its design and implementation and presenting a step-by-step construction of the three benefit estimates. A final chapter compares the performance of the five projects in terms of project design, the external environment, the credit delivery system, technical assistance, project costs, and PVO contribution. Numerous tables and a 12-item bibliography (1980-83) are provided.
