In Bangladesh, only 35% of women are part of the workforce. Microcredit programs aim to not only change this fact but also encourage entrepreneurship amongst women. A team of local researchers investigates the impact that microcredit currently has on female entrepreneurship in Bangladesh. They also compare the entrepreneurial status of women to that of men to find out how much gender influences entrepreneurship. The team uses an instrumental variables technique to analyse data from a 2010 national household survey. The researchers find that access to microcredit has a significant and positive impact on both male and female entrepreneurship, with men benefitting more, even when women are the recipients of the loans. Find out more about the research methods, findings and policy recommendations in the following PEP publications:
