Female Skin in the Game: Bridging the Gender Financing Gap

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I examine the role of skin in the game, such as paid-up equity or collateral, in narrowing the gender financing gap in entrepreneurship. I find, first, that skin in the game reduces this gap: a 10 percent increase in collateral value raises bank debt by around 4 percent for women—twice as much as for men. Similarly, a one-standard-deviation increase in the paid-up equity ratio boosts bank debt by at least 4.65 percent more for women, which is 2.2 times more than for men. Second, I find the marginal return to an additional dollar of debt is higher for women, implying that women face more significant financial constraints and forgo higher NPV projects. The economic magnitude is large: for a female-owned business with a one-standard-deviation higher leverage, the performance gap (1-2 percentage points lower ROA for females) shrinks by at least 80 percent. I confirm my findings through robustness and placebo tests and provide cross-country evidence showing that stronger collateral rights are associated with improved credit access and entrepreneurship for women. Overall, the results suggest that more equal access to collateral and wealth plays a sizeable role in narrowing the gender financing gap.

Selected presentations: 2025 AEA Annual Meeting (scheduled); CEPR Women in Economics: WE ARE Seminar Series; CEPR Conference on Sustainable Financial Intermediation in Luxembourg; 2024 FMA Annual Meeting in Dallas; Boca-ECGI Corporate Finance and Governance Conference; 3rd Workshop on Gender and Economics at U Luxembourg; AEFIN 32nd Finance Forum; AFFI PhD Workshop; UPF Internal Applied Economics seminar; Cat´olica Lisbon SBE Seminar; KU Leuven lunch seminar.

Board Diversity and Sectoral Gender Disparities

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I study the impact of board gender quotas, focusing on sector-specific implications in traditionally male-dominated sectors, such as Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Finance (STEM&F). I find that, first, the market reaction to California’s 2018 board gender diversity law was significantly less negative for firms in STEM&F sectors (-1.1 percent) compared to other sectors (-3.8 percent). This differential response cannot be explained by the appointment of more qualified female directors; in fact, the increased demand for women on boards was accompanied by a similar decline in female director qualifications across all sectors. Instead, the result is consistent with prior evidence showing that board diversity enhances innovation, a key driver of value in STEM&F industries. Furthermore, the pre-existing sectoral gender gap—where board diversity in STEM&F lagged other sectors by about 20 percent—disappeared after the law, while it widened in other states, likely reflecting director relocations. Overall, the results highlight the importance of accounting for sectoral differences when designing gender quota policies, especially in high-skill tiers of employment where the pool of qualified candidates is limited. 

Presentations: AEFIN 31st Finance Forum PhD Mentoring Day; 2022 FMA Conference Doctoral Student Consortium; 2021 EFMA Doctoral Seminar; ESCP Business School Internal Finance Seminars.

Financial Innovation and Female Access to Finance

Draft available upon request

Open Banking (OB) allows customers to securely transfer their financial data to various service providers, including non-bank financial intermediaries. This paper examines the global impact of OB on financial inclusion, with a particular focus on gender disparities. Using data on OB adoption across the globe, I show that the initial 6 percent gender gap in account ownership decreases by 2.5 percent, or 40 percent, following the implementation of OB practices. Post-OB women make (receive) more digital payments than men by 3.1 percent (2.1 percent). Furthermore, 1.9 percent more women than men begin owning a debit or credit card, and 2.75 percent more women than men save money to start, operate, or expand a business. These findings suggest that OB significantly enhances women’s financial inclusion. 

Personal Wealth and the Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship (with Vítor Pereira Santos, Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics)

Gender Diversity and Green Innovation (with Filiz Unsal, OECD)

The Power of Words (with Urszula Ayache, Univeristy of Oslo)

Presentation: Diana International Research Conference, Babson College.