IT'S GETTING CROWDED IN HERE: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE OF DEMAND CONSTRAINTS IN THE GENDER PROFIT GAP

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hardy, Morgan; Kagy, Gisella
• 署名单位: New York University; New York University Abu Dhabi; Vassar College
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueaa040
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 2272-2290
• 关键词: entrepreneurs; women

摘要

This article considers market-level contributors to the well-documented gender profit gap among micro-entrepreneurs. We combine data from a garment-making firm census and market research survey in Ghana, uncovering a gender gap in the market-size-to-firm ratio and observing disproportionate self-reports of 'not enough customers' from female owners. We develop a simple model and discuss implications of potential gender differences in demand constraints. As experimental corroboration, we show that female-owned firms expand production and experience profit increases in response to random demand shocks, while male-owned firms do not. Nationally representative data echoes our experimental findings, showing more crowding in female-dominated industries.