Misallocation across Establishment Gender

Extending a standard model for measuring misallocation, I find substantial differences to its extent across male and female establishments spanning over 75 low and middle income countries. In South American and South Asian countries female establishments face higher distortions on production, whereas in Eastern European countries male establishments face higher distortions. These differences are due to gender bias against females in South Asia in the range of 20 percent, and perhaps surprisingly, against males in Eastern Europe of a similar range. Importantly, gender bias against females is negatively related to economic development. A hypothetical policy that levels the playing field across gender has a larger impact on female establishment size and raises their market share in countries where females face higher distortions.