This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. ASSA Annual Meeting
  3. 2025
  4. Program
  5. Differences in Female-Owned Businesses, Past and Present
« Back to Results

Differences in Female-Owned Businesses, Past and Present

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 3, 2025 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM (PST)

Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Union Square 1 and 2
Hosted By: American Economic Association
  • Chair: Richard Hornbeck, University of Chicago

Historical Differences in Female-Owned Manufacturing Establishments: The United States, 1850—1880

Ruveyda Gozen
,
London School of Economics
Richard Hornbeck
,
University of Chicago
Anders Humlum
,
University of Chicago
Martin Rotemberg
,
New York University

Abstract

We characterize female-owned manufacturing establishments using newly digitized manuscripts from the US Census of Manufactures (1850, 1860, 1870, 1880). Female-owned establishments were smaller than male-owned establishments and had lower capital-to-output ratios, which could reflect more-constrained financial access and other distortions. Female-owned establishments employed more women and paid women higher wages, creating a potential cycle between increased female business ownership and increased female labor market participation. Female-owned establishments concentrated in sub-industries like women's clothing and millinery, which is associated with some but not all of these differences. We also show how female owners differed from other women in the Population Census.

Silent Partners: a Quantitative Assessment of Corporate Ownership by Women in Early Industrial New England

Zorina Khan
,
Bowdoin College

Abstract

Little is known about the historical gender gap in women’s ownership of business enterprise, the composition of their investment and wealth portfolios, or revealed risk preferences.  This study provides a systematic empirical analysis of stockholding in corporations among approximately 40,000 investors in antebellum New England.  The results indicate that women’s propensity to own corporate equity altered over the life cycle and, relative to men, personal wealth in business typically accounted for a larger fraction of their portfolios.  Moreover, by allocating funding towards riskier new ventures in manufacturing and transportation, women shareholders increasingly contributed to early capital mobilization and industrialization.

Gender Gaps in Entrepreneurship: Business Networks and Collaborations in Ghana

Edward L. Asiedu
,
University of Ghana
Monica Lambon-Quayefio
,
University of Ghana
Francesca Truffa
,
University of Michigan
Ashley Wong
,
Tilburg University

Abstract

Female-owned businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa are smaller and less profitable. We study whether gender differences in business networks and interfirm relationships can explain these observed gender gaps in entrepreneurship. Using survey data from Ghana, we provide novel evidence on gender differences in professional networks (i.e., network size and composition), reliance on informal networks (i.e., friends and relatives), business collaborations (i.e., buyers/suppliers relationships), and the use of contracts. We also explore how these differences vary by the characteristics of the entrepreneurs and their firm.

Rule of Law and Female Business Owners

Nava Ashraf
,
London School of Economics
Alexia Delfino
,
Bocconi University
Edward L. Glaeser
,
Harvard University

Abstract

While the importance of gender norms for female labor participation has been well established, female owners face additional challenges which require good contract enforcement. Using cross-country data, we show that the quality of contract enforcement is indeed positively related to female entrepreneurship, and, to a much lesser extent, to female labor force participation, pointing to the importance of legal reforms in fostering female entrepreneurship. However, at a micro-level, interviews with small scale entrepreneurs in Zambia highlight possible barriers to female entry in business: limited knowledge of formal institutions and negative perceptions of their usefulness or fairness based on past experiences. 

Discussant(s)
Josh Lerner
,
Harvard Business School
Claire Celerier
,
University of Toronto
Morgan Lillian Hardy
,
New York University-Abu Dhabi
Jamie McCasland
,
University of British Columbia
JEL Classifications
  • M1 - Business Administration