2009年-世界发展银行全球_Why_is_More_Capital_not_Enough_to_Grow_Female_Businesses__2页_692kb

Finance & PSD Impact Summary

Core Content

This document summarizes the findings of a field experiment conducted in Sri Lanka, which investigates the impact of small grants on the profitability of female-owned microenterprises. It challenges the common assumption that increased access to finance should benefit women more than men, as women are often perceived to be more credit-constrained.

Key Findings

• Gender Disparity in Returns: Small grants of $100 and $200 increased monthly profits by 9% for male-owned microenterprises, but had no effect on female-owned businesses.
• Not Due to Differences in Characteristics: The lower returns for women are not attributed to differences in education, entrepreneurial ability, or risk aversion. In fact, female microenterprise owners come from slightly wealthier households and have more education.
• Industry Differences: Female-dominated industries, such as lace making and food production, tend to have lower optimal sizes and lower returns to capital compared to male-dominated industries like bicycle repair.
• Asset Capture Concerns: Women may underinvest in liquid assets (like inventories) due to concerns about asset capture by other household members, while overinvesting in less liquid assets (like equipment) to protect their earnings.
• Empowerment and Investment Efficiency: More empowered women are more likely to invest in inventories and earn higher profits from the grants, suggesting that empowerment can lead to more efficient investment.

Policy Implications

1. Finance Alone is Not Sufficient: Additional support such as business training and information is necessary to help women transition into higher-growth industries.
2. Empowerment Needs Evidence: While microfinance often emphasizes empowerment, there is limited evidence that empowerment sessions directly lead to improved investment efficiency and higher returns.
3. Need for Impact Evaluation: There is a lack of rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of various policies aimed at supporting female entrepreneurship, such as mentoring, vocational training, and lending products. More impact evaluations are required to determine what strategies work and why.

Broader Context

• The gender differences in returns to capital are not unique to Sri Lanka. Similar patterns have been observed in Mexico and Brazil, with industry playing a significant role in explaining these differences.
• Ongoing research is being conducted in Ghana to replicate the findings with a larger sample size and to explore factors influencing industry choice.

Further Reading

• De Mel, Suresh, David McKenzie and Christopher Woodruff, forthcoming, "Are Women More Credit Constrained? Experimental Evidence on Gender and Microenterprise Returns", American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.
• Recent impact notes are available at: http://econ.worldbank.org/programs/finance/impact

Summary of Impact Notes