This policy brief on women in entrepreneurship was produced by the OECD and the European Commission. It explores the gender gap in entrepreneurship, the differences between male- and female-owned businesses, and the unique challenges that female entrepreneurs face when it comes to starting a...

This study analyzes differences by gender in the ownership of privately held U.S. firms and examines the role of gender in the availability of credit. Using data from the nationally representative Surveys of Small Business Finances, which span a period of sixteen years, we document a series of...

Access to land and particularly its distribution has reemerged as an important part of both academic and policy discussions in the last decade, leading to the resuscitation of the debate on the relationship between size of holdings and output per land unit. Across the world, studies have...

Not all firms have equal capacity to absorb productive credit. Identifying those with higher potential may have large consequences for productivity. We collect detailed survey data on small- and medium-sized Tanzanian firms who borrow from a large commercial bank, which in turn raises funds via...

Using unique survey data from Georgia, Mongolia, and the Philippines, we examine gender gaps in entrepreneurship. The overall incidence of entrepreneurship is highest in Cavite, Philippines, while the gender gap in ownership is highest in Mongolia. On average, enterprises operated by men have...

Within a patriarchal society, women are placed in a precarious societal positioning that leads to a prevalence of gender inequality in education, financial literacy, and access to finance. In the context of Asia, where small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of most Asian...

Social distancing restrictions and health- and economic-driven demand shifts from COVID-19 are expected to shutter many small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures, but there is very little early evidence on impacts. This paper provides the first analysis of impacts of the pandemic on the...

The contributions of the small businesses sector to the U.S. economy are often noted in periods of economic growth, and the fragility of the sector is a core focus of policy in an economic downturn. The sector is important not only because of its contributions to job growth, real economic...

Social distancing restrictions and demand shifts from COVID-19 are expected to shutter many small businesses, but there is very little early evidence on impacts. This paper provides the first analysis of impacts of the pandemic on the number of active small businesses in the United States using...

In the Philippines, more than half of new businesses in 2017 are by women. While this is a reflection of equality in opportunities between the sexes, the more critical issue for women entrepreneurs is to stay in business and scale up. Using a survey data from 480 SME respondents from Metro...