The importance of capital in closing the entrepreneurial gender gap: a longitudinal study of lottery wins

Fleche, Sarah, Lepinteur, Anthony and Powdthavee, Nattavudh (2021) The importance of capital in closing the entrepreneurial gender gap: a longitudinal study of lottery wins. CEP Discussion Papers (1762). Centre for Economic Performance, LSE, London, UK.

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Abstract

Can capital constraints explain why there are more male than female entrepreneurs in most societies? We study this issue by exploiting longitudinal data on lottery winners. Comparing between large to small winners, we find that an increase in lottery win in period t-1 significantly increases the likelihood of becoming self-employed in period t. This windfall effect is statistically the same in magnitude for men and women; a one percent increase in exogenous income increases the probability of female selfemployment by 0.6 percentage points, which is approximately 10% of the gender entrepreneurial gap. These results suggest that we can causally reduce the gender entrepreneurial gap by improving women’s access to capital that might not be as readily available to the aspiring female entrepreneurs as it is to male entrepreneurs.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/discussion...
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Authors
Divisions:	LSE
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
JEL classification:	J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Time Allocation, Work Behavior, and Employment Determination and Creation; Human Capital; Retirement > J21 - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Time Allocation, Work Behavior, and Employment Determination and Creation; Human Capital; Retirement > J24 - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
Date Deposited:	23 Mar 2022 00:03
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 23:56
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/114438

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