The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

hile e orts are currently in place to collect data on the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, this note looks at the experience of the 2008 nancial crisis to gain insights on possible di erential e ects of crises on female and male entrepreneurs. Speci cally, the note uses rm-level data collected immediately after the 2008 nancial crisis in six countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Turkey) to look at two aspects of the di erential e ect of the crisis. First, whether there is a di erence in the exit rate for rms with male vs. female top managers; and second, whether, among rms that stayed in business, female-managed rms are a ected disproportionally. Results show that rms run by female top managers are more likely to exit the market. Secondly, when able to stay in business, male and female-managed rms su ered a similar impact in the short term; however, female-managed rms su ered more than male-managed rms in the longer term.