蝌蚪网 Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
The Inverted U-Shaped Relationship between Female Entrepreneurship and Economic Development
蝌蚪网 Papers and Proceedings
vol. 115,
May 2025
(pp. 500–508)
Abstract
In the World Bank Enterprise Survey, the share of entrepreneurs who are women first rises and then falls with national income, while female labor force participation has the opposite U-shaped pattern. We present a model in which gender-based disadvantages, such as discrimination and household obligations, deter firm formation in poor countries and complex firm formation in rich countries. In middle-income countries, high returns to entrepreneurship offset gender-based costs, and firms remain simple. We document that female-owned firms are smaller and simpler. Larger firms are more productive. The female entrepreneurship rate is associated with female education, weak kinship ties, and Buddhism.Citation
Ashraf, Nava, Alexia Delfino, Edward L. Glaeser, and Irene Solmone. 2025. "The Inverted U-Shaped Relationship between Female Entrepreneurship and Economic Development." 蝌蚪网 Papers and Proceedings 115: 500–508. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20251070Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D22 Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
- G32 Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- L26 Entrepreneurship
- O14 Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
- Z12 Cultural Economics: Religion