Closing the Finance Gap by Nudging: Impact Assessment of Public Grants for Women Entrepreneurs

Sa？etak Several recent papers draw attention to a lack of rigorous research on public policies supporting women entrepreneurs’ competitiveness. This paper evaluates the effect of small business development gender specific matching grants using a quasi-experimental approach. The grants have a positive effect on firm survival, as well as positive effects on obtaining bank loans, turnover, value added, employment, and total factor productivity. Heterogeneous treatment effects show that the grants increase the chance of young women entrepreneurs’ firm survival and are even more effective for firms owned by mature women. Cost-benefit analysis estimates an increase in value added, which outweighs scheme-induced costs by 80% in the short-run and 170% in the long run