Another Perspective on Gender Specific Access to Credit in Africa

Henrik Hansen () and John Rand
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Henrik Hansen: Institute of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen

No 2011/14, IFRO Working Paper from University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics

Abstract: Using firm level data from eight Sub-Saharan Africa countries we examine credit constraint differentials between male and female manufacturing entrepreneurs. Enterprises owned by female entrepreneurs are less likely to be credit constrained compared to their male counterparts. The magnitude of this credit constraint gap varies with constraint and ownership definitions but the direction of the gap does not. Using a generalized Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, we investigate if the gap is due to differences in observable characteristics or to unexplained variations in the returns to these characteristics. We find the gap to be associated with the unexplained component. We argue that the finding is mainly due to female gender favoritism in loans to micro and small firms because (i) the gap is reversed for medium size enterprises and, (ii) we find no sign of superior female entrepreneurial performance in terms of capacity utilization, labor productivity or firm size growth.

Keywords: Credit; Entrepreneurship; Gender; Private Sector; SMEs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G21 J16 L25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2011-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev, nep-ent, nep-hme, nep-lab and nep-mfd
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:foi:wpaper:2011_14

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