ERF 26th Annual Conference
On Women Participation and Empowerment in International Trade: Impact on Trade Margins in the MENA Region
No.
ERF26_45
Publisher
ERF
Date
August, 2020
Topic
D2. Production and Organizations
F1. Trade
J1. Demographic Economics
This paper investigates the contribution of female labor participation as well female ownership/management to trade margins using firm-level data for 18 manufacturing and services sectors in 8 MENA countries for 2013. This topic is innovative, and critical for the MENA region where female participation in the export sector is shy, at a time the region is looking for new sources of competitiveness to boost its exports. Our results show that first, female workers have a positive a significant impact on both the probability of export and export volume, and that their effect is relatively higher for small firms than large firms. Female labor participation matters in traditional sectors where the MENA region has a comparative advantage. Second, female management/ownership mainly enhances the probability of large firms to export, this effect being mainly driven by female ownership and not management. In other words, female entrepreneurs matter more for entering the export market. Third, the negative effect of financial constraints on exports is more pronounced female-owned/managed than their male counterparts, and therefore female entrepreneurs tend to rely on self-finance. The same finding holds for the effect of other regulatory barriers on exports, such as the number of days to import.
Research Fellows
Fida Karam
Associate Professor, Gulf University for Science and...
Research Fellows
Chahir Zaki
Chaired Professor of Economics, University of Orléans