Are Women More Credit Constrained? Experimental Evidence on Gender and Microenterprise Returns | Zendy

Suresh de Mel | Zendy; David McKenzie | Zendy; Christopher Woodruff | Zendy

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Are Women More Credit Constrained? Experimental Evidence on Gender and Microenterprise Returns

Author(s) -

Suresh de Mel,

David McKenzie,

Christopher Woodruff

Publication year - 2009

Publication title -

american economic journal applied economics

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 12.996

H-Index - 82

eISSN - 1945-7782

pISSN - 1945-7790

DOI - 10.1257/app.1.3.1

Subject(s) - inefficiency , profit (economics) , unitary state , gender gap , demographic economics , economics , risk aversion (psychology) , labour economics , business , microeconomics , financial economics , expected utility hypothesis , political science , law

We report on a field experiment providing random grants to microenterprise owners. The grants generated large profit increases for male owners but not for female owners. We show that the gender gap does not simply mask differences in ability, risk aversion, entrepreneurial attitudes, or differences in reporting behavior, but there is some evidence that the gender gap is larger in female-dominated industries. The data are not consistent with a unitary household model, and imply an inefficiency of resource allocation within households. We show evidence that this inefficiency is reduced in more cooperative households. (JEL D13, D14, J16, L25, L26, O12, O16)

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