Download This PaperBoard Gender Quotas and Outward Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from France
University of Milan Bicocca Department of Economics, Management and Statistics Working Paper No. 485
45 Pages Posted: 27 Dec 2021
Date Written: December 23, 2021
Abstract
We show that board gender quota laws reduce the propensity of French firms to undertake outward foreign direct investment. For this, we use Orbis data for the period 2007–2015 and a difference-in-difference approach. The exogenous increase in the share of women directors decreases the share of foreign subsidiaries by 7 percentage points when the share of women directors is at its highest. The share of foreign subsidiaries is affected by the decrease in the probability of having a foreign subsidiary, which indicates disinvestment. Accordingly, the estimated effects on the number and cost of employees are negative, with no impact on firm performance.
Keywords: Board diversity, Gender quota, Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), Europe, Women directors.
JEL Classification: G30; F23; J16
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Valeria Gattai (Contact Author)
Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Department of Economics, Management and Statistics (DEMS) ( email )
Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1
Milan, 20126
Italy
Piergiovanna Natale
Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Economics, Psychology & Social Sciences (CISEPS) ( email )
Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1
Milano, 20126
Italy
Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Department of Economics, Management and Statistics (DEMS) ( email )
Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1
Milan, 20126
Italy