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Local industrial structures and female entrepreneurship in India

Author

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  • Ejaz Ghani
  • William R. Kerr
  • Stephen D. O'Connell

Abstract

We analyze the spatial determinants of female entrepreneurship in India in the manufacturing and services sectors. We focus on the presence of incumbent female-owned businesses and their role in promoting higher subsequent female entrepreneurship relative to male entrepreneurship. We find evidence of agglomeration economies in both sectors, where higher female ownership among incumbent businesses within a district-industry predicts a greater share of subsequent entrepreneurs will be female. Moreover, higher female ownership of local businesses in related industries (e.g., those sharing similar labor needs, industries related via input-output markets) predict greater relative female entry rates even after controlling for the focal district-industry's conditions. The core patterns hold when using local industrial conditions in 1994 to instrument for incumbent conditions in 2000-2005. The results highlight that the traits of business owners in incumbent industrial structures influence the types of entrepreneurs supported.
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Suggested Citation

  • Ejaz Ghani & William R. Kerr & Stephen D. O'Connell, 2013. "Local industrial structures and female entrepreneurship in India," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(6), pages 929-964, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:13:y:2013:i:6:p:929-964
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeg/lbt004
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    Cited by:

    1. Alhorr, Layane, 2024. "Virtual Windows Through Glass Walls? Digitalization for Low-Mobility Female Entrepreneurs," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10803, The World Bank.
    2. Ms. Sonali Jain-Chandra & Ms. Kalpana Kochhar & Ms. Monique Newiak & Yang Yang & Ms. Edda Zoli, 2018. "Gender Equality: Which Policies Have the Biggest Bang for the Buck?," IMF Working Papers 2018/105, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Ghani, Ejaz & Kerr, William R. & O'Connell, Stephen D., 2013. "The exceptional persistence of India's unorganized sector," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6454, The World Bank.
    4. Ghani, Ejaz & Kerr, William R. & O'Connell, Stephen D., 2013. "Female business ownership and informal sector persistence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6612, The World Bank.
    5. Ghani,Syed Ejaz & Grover,Arti & Kerr,Sari & Kerr,William Robert, 2016. "Will market competition trump gender discrimination in India ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7814, The World Bank.
    6. Debasree Das Gupta, 2013. "The Effect of Gender on Women-led Small Enterprises: The Case of India," South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, , vol. 2(1), pages 61-75, June.
    7. Ravi Kanbur & Ejaz Ghani, 2013. "Urbanization and (In)Formalization," World Bank Publications - Reports 17744, The World Bank Group.
    8. Erica Field & Seema Jayachandran & Rohini Pande & Natalia Rigol, 2016. "Friendship at Work: Can Peer Effects Catalyze Female Entrepreneurship?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 125-153, May.
    9. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Gobillon, Laurent, 2015. "The Empirics of Agglomeration Economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 247-348, Elsevier.
    10. Ghani, Ejaz & Kanbur, Ravi & O'Connell, Stephen D., 2013. "Urbanization and agglomeration benefits : gender differentiated impacts on enterprise creation in India's informal sector," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6553, The World Bank.
    11. Ejaz Ghani & Arti Grover Goswami & William R. Kerr, 2012. "Is India’s Manufacturing Sector Moving Away From Cities?," Harvard Business School Working Papers 12-090, Harvard Business School.
    12. Kasper Brandt & Longinus Rutasitara & Onesmo Selejio & Neda Trifkovic, 2017. "Entrepreneurship and human capital development in children," WIDER Working Paper Series 198, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Ghani, Ejaz & Kerr, William R. & O'Connell, Stephen D., 2014. "Political reservations and women's entrepreneurship in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 138-153.
    14. Zhao, Zhong & Zheng, Liang, 2023. "The Births of New Private-Owned Enterprises in an Environment of State-Owned Enterprises," IZA Discussion Papers 16259, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Ghani, Ejaz & Mani, Anandi & O'Connell, Stephen D., 2013. "Can political empowerment help economic empowerment ? women leaders and female labor force participation in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6675, The World Bank.
    16. Kasper Brandt & Longinus Rutasitara & Onesmo Selejio & Neda Trifković, 2017. "Entrepreneurship and human capital development in children," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-198, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Elizabeth Lyons & Laurina Zhang, 2017. "The Impact of Entrepreneurship Programs on Minorities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 303-307, May.
    18. Gilles Duranton & William R. Kerr, 2015. "The Logic of Agglomeration," NBER Working Papers 21452, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Hu, Haoyu & Wang, Wei & Xin, Ge & Ye, Fangjin, 2024. "Impact of city size on self-employment behavior: Evidence from Chinese migrants," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    20. Vasavi Bhatt, 2025. "Occupational concentration and specialized knowledge: evidence from census of India," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 74(3), pages 1-30, September.
    21. Aaron Chatterji & Edward Glaeser & William Kerr, 2014. "Clusters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(1), pages 129-166.
    22. Megha Mukim, 2015. "Coagglomeration of formal and informal industry: evidence from India," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 329-351.
    23. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr & Tina Xu, 2017. "Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs: A Review of Recent Literature," NBER Working Papers 24097, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Ghani, Ejaz & Kerr, William & O'Connell, Stephen, 2013. "Promoting Women’s Economic Participation in India," World Bank - Economic Premise, The World Bank, issue 107, pages 1-6, February.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • L80 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - General
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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