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Access to credit by SMEs in South Asia: do women entrepreneurs face discrimination

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  • Wellalage, Nirosha
  • Locke, Stuart

Abstract

This study investigates gender balance in the credit market for small and medium enterprise (SME) finance in South Asia. This study is significant in that it provides insights for emerging economies into the danger of second-best solutions resulting from capital market imperfections. Using data sourced from World Bank Enterprise Surveys, it recognises the likely endogeneity of gender in credit constraints. Using IV-probit estimation we find that enterprises owned by female entrepreneurs are on average 3% less likely to be credit constrained compared to their male counterparts.

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  • Wellalage, Nirosha & Locke, Stuart, 2017. "Access to credit by SMEs in South Asia: do women entrepreneurs face discrimination," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 336-346.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:41:y:2017:i:c:p:336-346
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2017.04.053
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    6. Imène Berguiga & Philippe Adair, 2022. "Funding female entrepreneurs in MENA countries (2013-2019): self-selection and discrimination," Erudite Working Paper 2022-05, Erudite.
    7. Senou, Melain Modeste & Manda, Julius, 2021. "Access to Finance and Rural Youth Entrepreneurship in Benin: Is There a Gender Gap?," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315077, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Truong, Thao Duc & Bui, Phuong Cam, 2022. "The lasting effect of formalization on credit access: Evidence from Vietnamese private SMEs," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    9. Sharma, Palak, 2021. "Finance and Growth of SMEs in South Asia: Evidence from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka," Warwick-Monash Economics Student Papers 10, Warwick Monash Economics Student Papers.
    10. Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Yoshino, Naoyuki & Fukuda, Lisa, 2019. "Gender and Corporate Success: An Empirical Analysis of Gender-Based Corporate Performance on a Sample of Asian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises," ADBI Working Papers 937, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    11. Hewa-Wellalage, Nirosha & Boubaker, Sabri & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Verhoeven, Peter, 2022. "The gender gap in access to finance: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    12. Melain Modeste Senou & Julius Manda, 2022. "Access to finance and rural youth entrepreneurship in Benin: Is there a gender gap?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(1), pages 29-41, March.
    13. Philippe Adair & Imène Berguiga, 2021. "Exogenous vs. endogenous obstacles to funding female entrepreneurs in MENA countries," Erudite Working Paper 2021-13, Erudite.
    14. Kausik Chaudhuri & Subash Sasidharan & Rajesh Seethamma Natarajan Raj, 2020. "Gender, small firm ownership, and credit access: some insights from India," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1165-1181, April.
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    17. Kim, Sahrok & Praveen Parboteeah, K. & Cullen, John B. & Jeong, Nara, 2022. "Social institutions approach to women’s firm ownership and firm bribery activity: A study of small-sized firms in emerging markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1333-1349.
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