Micro and small household enterprises play an enormous role in growth and employment in
developing economies such as Egypt. Despite the importance of household enterprises, little
is known about the creation, survival, and growth of such enterprises. This paper examines
the dynamics of household enterprises, using household panel data from 1998, 2006, and 2012
in Egypt. As well as identifying the patterns of enterprise creation, dissolution, and growth,
the paper identifies the individual, household, and enterprise characteristics that contribute to
these dynamics. The findings demonstrate that the recent economic downturn in Egypt had a
strong negative effect on household enterprise survival as well as employment growth within
surviving enterprises.