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Women’s Access to Credit in France: How Microfinance Institutions Import Disparate Treatment from Banks

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  • Anastasia Cozarenco
  • Ariane Szafarz

Abstract

This paper compares the loans granted to male and female entrepreneurs by a French microfinance institution (MFI). The sample period is split in two: before and after the MFI implemented France's regulatory EUR 10,000 loan ceiling. In the first period, the MFI does not co-finance projects with mainstream banks and loan size is gender-insensitive. In the second period, the MFI does co-finance above-ceiling projects with mainstream banks, and we observe a gender gap in loan size. The results suggest that co-financing leads the originally gender-neutral MFI to import disparate treatment from mainstream banks.

Suggested Citation

  • Anastasia Cozarenco & Ariane Szafarz, 2013. "Women’s Access to Credit in France: How Microfinance Institutions Import Disparate Treatment from Banks," Working Papers CEB 13-037, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/150093
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Davide Forcella & Marek Hudon, 2014. "Green Microfinance in Europe," Working Papers CEB 14-020, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. Davide Forcella & Marek Hudon, 2016. "Green Microfinance in Europe," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 445-459, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    microcredit; loan ceiling; bank; gender; France;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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