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Board Gender Quotas and Outward Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from France

Author

Listed:
  • Koray Aktas
  • Valeria Gattai
  • Piergiovanna Natale

Abstract

We show that board gender quota laws reduce the propensity of French firms to undertake outward foreign direct investment. For this, we use Orbis data for the period 2007–2015 and a difference-in-difference approach. The exogenous increase in the share of women directors decreases the share of foreign subsidiaries by 7 percentage points when the share of women directors is at its highest. The share of foreign subsidiaries is affected by the decrease in the probability of having a foreign subsidiary, which indicates disinvestment. Accordingly, the estimated effects on the number and cost of employees are negative, with no impact on firm performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Koray Aktas & Valeria Gattai & Piergiovanna Natale, 2021. "Board Gender Quotas and Outward Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from France," Working Papers 485, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Dec 2021.
    • Handle: RePEc:mib:wpaper:485
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Board diversity; Gender quota; Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI); Europe; Women directors.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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