Abstract
From 2008 to 2012 researchers from the World Bank conducted an impact evaluation study in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, to evaluate the effect of Minas Fácil Expresso program. This program was designed to extend a business simplification process already present in the most populous municipalities in the state to its remaining municipalities. This was intended as a quick and low-cost way to integrate the remaining municipalities, with the goals of facilitating the opening of businesses in these municipalities, reducing informality, and increasing state and municipal tax collection.
Researchers used administrative data provided by the Junta Comercial de Minas Gerais (JUCEMG), the Minas Gerais Chamber of Commerce.
There are 853 municipalities in Minas Gerais. Thirty-one of these, including Belo Horizonte, the state capital, have a physical Minas Facil office and are generally much larger in size. The dataset consists of the monthly formalization and tax data by municipality for the remaining 822 municipalities, along with the details of which of these received a Minas Fácil Expresso office.
