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Marriott Marquis, Santa Rosa
Hosted By:
American Economic Association
The SBO is a 5-year period survey of operating firms and companies in the United States, conducted by The Census Bureau. Surveyed firms are randomly selected from the list of firms’ filed tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service. The Census Bureau obtains the sample firms’ number of employees, payroll data, and receipts from IRS tax returns. Of the total 2,165,680 firms represented in the 2007 SBO sample, there are 663,385 single-owner firms. In our dataset, about 33% of the firms are female-owned, 44.2% are home-based and 17.9% is both female-owned and home-based.
Female Leadership in Business and Politics
Paper Session
Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM (PDT)
- Chair: Olga Stoddard, Brigham Young University
Are Female Executives Better Innovators?
Abstract
We investigate whether female executives are associated with greater innovative success. We find that firms with female CEOs obtain more patents and citations. A female executive is associated with approximately 50% and 45% standard deviation more patents and citations respectively for given R&D expenditure. We also find that companies led by female CEOs focus more on explorative innovation. Moreover, strengthened human capital (better managerial ability and hiring more inventors) is a plausible channel through which female CEOs positively affects the innovation outcomes. We are not arguing that females are in general more innovative; instead, it does seem that the female executives are more capable of helping the company to become more innovative.Women in the Boardroom and Their Impact on Corporate Governance and Performance: An Extended Analysis and Replication
Abstract
Adams and Ferreira (2009) wrote an influential and well-cited paper on the effect of female representation in corporate boards on the inputs of the board and the consequences of those inputs to the firm. Since 2003, female representation on corporate boards has nearly doubled. I test the findings of Adams and Ferreira for persistence during a sample period with a higher representation of women on corporate boards. Using a sample of board members from S&P 1500 firms for the sample period 1996–2017, I first replicate the original work using the time period 1996–2003 and find that my sample replicates many of their findings. I then test for persistence of the results in the full sample period and find that many of the results do not persist.Does Female Political Leadership Enhance Innovation in United States Cities?
Abstract
We investigate how female political leaders might impact innovation, as measured by the effect of the election of women mayors on patent grants in U.S. cities. To address endogeneity, we employ a regression discontinuity (RD) design and compare patent grants based on inventor location in U.S. cities where a female candidate barely won a mayoral election with such grants in cities where a female candidate barely lost. Preliminary results show that female mayors significantly increase the number of granted patents relative to male mayors. These findings persist over time, as there are significant effects when a female incumbent wins for a second time. The findings are also robust to different bandwidth choices, polynomial orders of the assignment variable, and discontinuity checks in the covariates.Persuasion and Gender: Experimental Evidence from Two Political Campaigns
Abstract
This paper investigates the differential response of male and female voters to competitive persuasion in political campaigns. We implemented a survey experiment during the (mixed gender) electoral race for mayor in Milan (2011), and a field experiment during the (same gender) electoral race for mayor in Cava de’ Tirreni (2015). In both cases, a sample of eligible voters was randomly divided into three groups. Two were exposed to either a positive or a negative campaign by one of the opponents. The third—control—group received no electoral information. In Milan, the campaigns were administered online and consisted of a bundle of advertising tools (videos, texts, slogans). In Cava de’ Tirreni, we implemented a large scale door-to-door campaign in collaboration with one of the candidates, randomizing positive vs. negative messages. In both experiments, stark gender differences emerge. Females vote more for the opponent and less for the incumbent when they are exposed to the opponent’s positive campaign. Exactly the opposite occurs for males. These gender differences cannot be accounted for by gender identification with the candidate, ideology, or other observable attributes of the voters.The Effects of Workplace Flexibility on Managerial Performance of a Female-Owned Firm
Abstract
This paper empirically examines the managerial performance of a business based on the owner’s gender and whether the firm is home-based or not. In our preliminary analysis, we find that a female-owned firm performs better when it is home-based. Using the data from the 2007 Survey of Business Owners (SBO) and the difference-in-difference approach, we estimate the average treatment effect for owner’s gender, home-based status and the interaction between them. The proxy for firm performance, return on assets (ROA), is the ratio of each firm’s operating profit (receipts minus payroll) to start-up capital. The control variables in the OLS estimation are owners’ demographic variables such as education level, age, and race; owners’ managerial characteristics such as indicators for founder, purchased firm, inherited firm, managed by owner, and financial control by owner; and firms’ production related variables such as log of employment, log of start-up capital, and owners’ hours of work. We find that businesses that are female-owned and home-based achieve 6.91% ROA. Further, this effect varies across different age and education groups. In most working age groups between 25 and 64, the home-based female-owned firms outperform other female-owned firms. Also, home-based female owners with at least some college education outperform other female owners.The SBO is a 5-year period survey of operating firms and companies in the United States, conducted by The Census Bureau. Surveyed firms are randomly selected from the list of firms’ filed tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service. The Census Bureau obtains the sample firms’ number of employees, payroll data, and receipts from IRS tax returns. Of the total 2,165,680 firms represented in the 2007 SBO sample, there are 663,385 single-owner firms. In our dataset, about 33% of the firms are female-owned, 44.2% are home-based and 17.9% is both female-owned and home-based.
JEL Classifications
- J1 - Demographic Economics