{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02005231037489102, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0052310374891020054, 'mean_word_length': 5.56, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 1, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Female Ownership and Firm Performance: Study of Informal Firms across Developing Countries

This study examines the relationship of female ownership with various performance indicators and willingness to register for informal (un-registered) firms. In addition, we study if the impacts of investment climate measures on firm performance differ for male-owned and female-owned firms. Using unique World Bank datasets that capture several firm and owner characteristics, and investment climate measures, we analyze firm level data across 14 developing countries across the world. We find female ownership has significant negative associations with total sales and labor productivity, a significant positive association with the number of female workers employed by the firm, and non- significant association with the probability of access to finance. The associated coefficients have high magnitudes, ranging from 20-40%. The relationship between female ownership and firm performance indicators vary by firm size and level of educational attainment of the firm’s largest owner. These findings are further supported by a series of robustness checks.