This thesis investigates the role of collateral environment and trade exposure on the allocation of employment across firms and sectors. The first chapter argues that, in these economies with poor institutional quality of collateral and bankruptcy laws, aggressive collateralization makes the risk-taking behavior of borrowers suboptimally more costly. This discourages entrepreneurship and thus impedes the growth potential among young firms with a potentially high impact on job creation in the economy.Second chapter stresses the "disconnection" channel on the performance of firms when stringent collateral environment impedes the access of firms to financial system. Studying the 6 economies in MENA we observe region is characterized by an unus...