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Political Reservations and Women's Entrepreneurship in India
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Political Reservations and Women's Entrepreneurship in India

Author

Listed:
  • Ejaz Ghani
  • William R. Kerr
  • Stephen D. O'Connell

Abstract

We quantify the link between the timing of state-level implementations of political reservations for women in India with the role of women in India's manufacturing sector. While overall employment of women in manufacturing does not increase after the reforms, we find significant evidence that more women-owned establishments were created in the unorganized/informal sector. These new establishments were concentrated in industries where women entrepreneurs have been traditionally active and the entry was mainly found among household-based establishments. We measure and discuss the extent to which this heightened entrepreneurship is due to channels like greater finance access or heightened inspiration for women entrepreneurs.

Suggested Citation

  • Ejaz Ghani & William R. Kerr & Stephen D. O'Connell, 2014. "Political Reservations and Women's Entrepreneurship in India," NBER Working Papers 19868, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19868
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • E26 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Informal Economy; Underground Economy
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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