Gender Differences in Entrepreneurial Propensity

Philipp Koellinger, Maria Minniti, Christian Schade

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

255 Scopus citations

Abstract

Using data from representative population surveys in 17 countries, we find that the lower rate of female business ownership is primarily due to women's lower propensity to start businesses rather than to differences in survival rates across genders. We show that women are less confident in their entrepreneurial skills, have different social networks and exhibit higher fear of failure than men. After controlling for endogeneity, we find that these variables explain a substantial part of the gender gap in entrepreneurial activity. Although, of course, their relative importance varies significantly across countries, these factors appear to have a universal effect.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)213-234
Number of pages22
JournalOxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics
Volume75
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2013
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Statistics and Probability
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty

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