Closing the Finance Gap by Nudging: Impact Assessment of Public Grants for Women Entrepreneurs

Stjepan Srhoj, Bruno Škrinjarić (), Sonja Radas and Janette Walde

No 1902, Working Papers from The Institute of Economics, Zagreb

Abstract: Several recent papers draw attention to a lack of rigorous research on public policies supporting women entrepreneurs' competitiveness. This paper evaluates the effect of small business development gender-specific matching grants using a quasi-experimental approach. The grants have a positive effect on firm survival, as well as positive effects on obtaining bank loans, turnover, value added, employment, and total factor productivity. Heterogeneous treatment effects show that the grants increase the chance of young women entrepreneurs' firm survival and are even more effective for firms owned by mature women. Cost-benefit analysis estimates an increase in value added, which outweighs scheme-induced costs by 80% in the short-run and 170% in the long run.

Keywords: women entrepreneurship; public grants; policy evaluation; gender financing gap; behavioral additionality; nudging (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B54 H43 H81 J16 L26 L38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2019-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-eur, nep-hme, nep-lab and nep-sbm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iez:wpaper:1902

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