Firm, Owner, and Financing Characteristics: Differences between Female- and Male-Owned Small Businesses

28 Pages Posted: 18 Apr 2002

See all articles by Alicia Robb

Alicia Robb

University of Colorado at Boulder; Next Wave Impact; Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

John D. Wolken

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Date Written: March 2002

Abstract

Differences in financing patterns and financial characteristics between female- and male-owned firms are often attributed to imperfections in credit markets. However, these differences could arise for many reasons, such as differences in the characteristics and preferences of owners and firms. The differences in lending patterns by gender may in fact have little or nothing to do with supply side factors or market imperfections. The goal of our paper is to test the hypothesis that differences in financing patterns between female- and male-owned small businesses can be explained by differences in business, credit history, and owner characteristics other than gender. In what follows, we first describe how owner, business, and financing characteristics of female-owned businesses differ from male-owned businesses. We then conduct a multivariate analysis of indicators of credit use and recent lending experiences, modeling each of these as a function of firm, owner, and credit history characteristics.

Keywords: Small business, financing, gender

JEL Classification: G20, D21, J71, L20

Suggested Citation

Robb, Alicia and Wolken, John D., Firm, Owner, and Financing Characteristics: Differences between Female- and Male-Owned Small Businesses (March 2002). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=306800 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.306800

Alicia Robb (Contact Author)

University of Colorado at Boulder ( email )

Leeds Business School
Boulder, CO 80309
United States

Next Wave Impact ( email )

7455 Park Lane Road
Longmount, CO 80503
United States

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

1000 Peachtree Street N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30309-4470
United States

John D. Wolken

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ( email )

20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20551
United States
202-452-2503 (Phone)

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