# **3 Data**

## **3.1 Sample**

This paper makes use of data from the Hohoe Garment Makers Project, collected in Hohoe Municipal District, a mountainous part of the Volta Region in Eastern Ghana near the border with Togo. In February of 2014, the research team conducted a census of all garment making firm owners in the district in preparation for this and other projects, a listing which uncovered 445 active garment making firm owners in Hohoe Town and its outlying suburbs. The activity began with existing lists of firms provided by the leadership of the local chapter of the Ghana National Tailors and Dressmakers Association (GNTDA) and other local trade associations, and continued through snowball sampling until all leads were exhausted. The field team then conducted a final stage of geographic road-by-road canvassing.<sup>7</sup> Of the firms identified in the census, 416 were still operational at the time of the weekly monitoring surveys in March and April of 2015.<sup>8</sup> Of these, 342 firms were verified by the field team to have an electricity connection to their shop or place of business at the time of the weekly surveys.<sup>9</sup> These 342 firms make up the analysis sample.

## **3.2 Data Sources**

In addition to the February 2014 census, supplementary baseline data was collected in the summer of 2014 and recall information in June of 2015 on machinery and equipment in use as of June 2014. Together, these three data sources make up the baseline dataset.

The primary analysis dataset was generated by a weekly panel survey conducted over seven weeks in March and April of 2015. All 445 firms in the Hohoe town census sample were cluster randomly assigned by neighborhood to weekdays for the weekly surveys, in an effort to spread daily recall randomly across days (if, for example, the weekend interlude makes it easier or harder to recall certain information). Data collection began on Thursday, March 5th, 2015, referencing daily blackouts and hours worked recall for Thursday, February 26th through Wednesday, March 4th, and weekly sales, orders, and expenses recall for that same seven day period. The four other weekday survey groups were started on Friday, March 6th, Monday, March 9th, Tuesday, March 10th, and Wednesday, March 11th. Data collection continued in this weekly manner through to Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015. Field staff conducted make-up surveys

> 7Individuals were included in the original census sample if they met three criteria. First, they had to report the ability to produce at least one of three commonly sold bespoke garment products: a man’s shirt, a woman’s slit and kabbah (a fitted top and long skirt), or a caftan (the attire traditionally worn by Ghanaians from the Northern part of the country). Second, they had to report owning a garment making business, though the business need not have a permanent physical location. Third, they had to report that the business was currently operational or was planned to be in operation over the next year.

> 8Appendix Table 1 compares baseline firm characteristics between the full census sample and those surviving to the panel survey. There are few observable predictors of survivorship, with the exception that older firms owners and older firms are less likely to exit.

> 9Appendix Table 2 compares baseline firm characteristics between all survivors and those survivors with electricity access (the analysis sample). Firms with access to electricity are, unsurprisingly, larger, more formal, and more likely to be owned by a man.

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