Do Crises Hit Female-Managed and Male-Managed Firms Differently? Evidence from the 2008 Financial Crisis

Ahmed, Tanima; Muzi, Silvia; Ueda, Kohei

doi:10.1596/34458

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…A few studies argue that gender gaps in enterprise performance and access to finance worsened in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, mostly in the context of developed and transition economies. Ahmed et al (2020) show that women-led firms in Europe and Central Asia were more likely than men-led firms to exit the market between 2008 and 2009, even controlling for firm characteristics. Among businesses that managed to stay in business, the short-term impacts did not differ systematically for women-vs men-led firms, but women-led businesses experienced a larger decrease in net sales in the long term, i.e.…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 90%

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women-Led Businesses

Torres

Maduko

Gaddis³

et al. 2022

The World Bank Research Observer

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The COVID-19 pandemic has struck businesses across the globe with unprecedented impacts. The world economy has been hit hard and firms have experienced a myriad of challenges, but these challenges have been heterogeneous across firms. This paper examines one important dimension of this heterogeneity: the differential effect of the pandemic on women-led and men-led businesses. The paper exploits a unique sample of close to 40,000 mainly formal businesses from 49 countries covering the months between April and September 2020. The findings show that women-led micro-businesses, women-led businesses in the hospitality industry, and women-led businesses in countries more severely affected by the COVID-19 shock were disproportionately hit compared with businesses led by men. At the same time, women-led micro-firms were markedly more likely to report increasing the use of digital platforms, but less likely to invest in software, equipment, or digital solutions. Finally, the findings also show that women-led businesses were less likely to have received some form of public support although they have been hit harder in some domains. In a crisis of the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence tracing the impact of the shock in a timely fashion is desperately needed to help inform the design of policy interventions. This real-time glimpse into women-led businesses fills this need for robust and policy-relevant evidence, and due to the large country coverage of the data, it is possible to identify patterns that extend beyond any one country, region, or sector, but at the cost of some granularity for testing more complex economic theories.

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Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 90%

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women-Led Businesses

Torres

Maduko

Gaddis³

et al. 2022

The World Bank Research Observer

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“…These findings are not specific to the coronavirus crisis: in fact, even during the 2008 crisis, female entrepreneurs had a similar experience. The study conducted by Ahmed et al (2020) provides valuable insights into the differential effects of the 2008 financial crisis on male‐ and female‐led firms in six European and Asian countries. The study is based on firm‐level data, which is a robust and reliable source of information, and from multiple countries, which increases the generalizability of the findings.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on public health, and its effects on the economy have been equally significant. In addition to government restrictions, a drop of demand and a shortage of raw materials and essential inputs left firms facing a series of challenges and with limited alternatives, such as reducing their activities or closing their businesses (Ahmed et al, 2020). Small businesses have been particularly hard hit, with many experiencing mass layoffs and closures.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID‐19 and the fate of Moroccan female‐led firms: Regional level evidence

Elouardighi,

Oubejja

2023

Regional Science Policy & Practice

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This study examines the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic on Moroccan female‐led firms, considering both short‐term and long‐term impacts. It investigates the influence of different pandemic waves on these firms, taking into account their size and location, to gain valuable insights into their crisis management strategies. Using a micro‐level database made up of 1,096 Moroccan firms observed during the initial three waves of the pandemic, we extract data from the World Bank ‘Enterprise Survey: impact on firms’ database. Our analysis, using a logit model, reveals that the impact of the pandemic varied by the gender of the firm head and survey period. Female‐led firms were more severely affected by the health crisis compared with their male peers. The quick application of policy adaptations played a crucial role in reducing the impact of the health crisis on male‐led enterprises. Small firms, particularly those situated in regions such as Beni Mellal‐Khenifra, Drâa‐Tafilalet, Oriental, and Marrakech‐Safi, have been significantly affected by the COVID‐19 crisis. This study makes two key contributions. Firstly, it provides an empirical analysis of the pandemic's impact on Moroccan firms using enterprise‐level data, which is unprecedented in Morocco. Secondly, it investigates the repercussions of the pandemic on female‐led Moroccan firms of varying sizes and regions, acknowledging the disproportionate impact on women during economic crises. The study aims to offer valuable insights for supporting the recovery of female‐led firms in the future. Our findings emphasize the importance of targeted assistance for small firms and those located in affected regions to mitigate the crisis's consequences and promote economic revival. These businesses play a crucial role in the local economy, and supporting their survival and resilience in the post‐COVID‐19 era is essential.

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“…In this sense, evidence might suggest that access to finance might be an important channel in the difference between firms. In particular, a few studies-such as Ahmed, Muzi, and Ueda (2020) for womenled firms in Europe and Central Asia; Cesaroni, Lotti, and Mistrulli (2013) for Italy; Thébaud and Sharkey (2016) and Palvia, Vähämaa, and Vähämaa (2015) for the United States-argue that gender gaps in enterprise performance and access to finance worsened in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. Overall, womenowned firms faced a more pronounced credit contraction when liquidity was tight and were more likely to experience difficulties in acquiring funding when lending tightened.…”

Section: Gender Effects Of the Covid-19 Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Contribution to the Innovation-Productivity Relationship in the Wake of COVID-19: Evidence for the Caribbean

Tacsir¹,

Pereira²

2023

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This study presents new findings on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on productivity and innovation for Caribbean firms, with particular focus on the effects on firm gender diversity and workforce composition. Research on the impact of women's participation on firm performance and innovation has so far produced mixed results, though there is some evidence to suggest that for Latin America, larger shares of women in the knowledge creation and innovation process may increase innovative behavior and, as a consequence, lead to greater labor productivity. In the current context, female participation in firms becomes an even more pressing issue, given the early indications of the pandemics disproportionately negative burden on women s income and jobs in different regions. We found that the gender composition of the personnel has an interesting direct effect on productivity. At the same time, our results show that the expected reductions in female personnel due to the pandemic, have a negative effect in the shares of female participation which, in turn, have the potential to nullify the mentioned productivity channel. This suggests the existence of a minimum threshold of female participation to profit from diversity. Hence, it seems that policy should focus particularly on protecting female jobs, particularly in the wake of dramatic shocks affecting revenues and/or employment.

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Do Crises Hit Female-Managed and Male-Managed Firms Differently? Evidence from the 2008 Financial Crisis

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women-Led Businesses

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women-Led Businesses

COVID‐19 and the fate of Moroccan female‐led firms: Regional level evidence

Gender Contribution to the Innovation-Productivity Relationship in the Wake of COVID-19: Evidence for the Caribbean

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