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dc.titleCan Online Platforms Promote Women-Led Exporting Firms?
dc.contributor.authorPoole, Jennifer P.
dc.contributor.authorVolpe Martincus, Christian
dc.contributor.orgunitProductivity, Trade and Innovation Sector
dc.contributor.orgunitTrade and Investment Division
dc.coverageLatin America and the Caribbean
dc.date.available2023-08-14T00:08:00
dc.date.issue2023-08-14T00:08:00
dc.description.abstractHow can policymakers promote women-led exporting firms? In this paper, we study the role of online business platforms to reduce informational barriers to exporting for women entrepreneurs. We hypothesize that, if the costs associated with accessing digital platforms are more symmetric across gender than traditional trade costs, digital trade platforms can play an important role in making trade more gender equal. To assess this hypothesis, we combine information on firms' participation in ConnectAmericas , a free and purely informational online platform, and detailed firm level export data of a developing country over a long period. We find that participation in this platform is associated with a significantly larger increase in exports for women entrepreneurs than for men managed firms in otherwise identical products and destinations. Given existing evidence on the role of women managed businesses in reducing gender earnings inequality, these results suggest that policies which encourage women participation in online environments to reduce the informational barriers associated with operating in foreign markets have the capacity to promote gender equality more broadly.
dc.format.extent39
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0005061
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Can-Online-Platforms-Promote-Women-Led-Exporting-Firms.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectSmall Business
dc.subjectTrade in Services
dc.subjectTrade in Goods
dc.subjectWomen
dc.subjectIntegration and Trade
dc.subjectExport
dc.subjectDigital Platform
dc.subjectGender
dc.subjectWomen Entrepreneurs
dc.subjectExport Activity
dc.subjectEntrepreneurship Promotion
dc.subjectSME Exporter
dc.subjectInternational Trade
dc.subject.jelcodeF13 - Trade Policy • International Trade Organizations
dc.subject.jelcodeF14 - Empirical Studies of Trade
dc.subject.jelcodeJ16 - Economics of Gender • Non-labor Discrimination
dc.subject.jelcodeL15 - Information and Product Quality • Standardization and Compatibility
dc.subject.jelcodeL26 - Entrepreneurship
dc.subject.keywordsOnline Platforms;Firms;exports;gender;Trade promotion;Latin America
dc.typeWorking Papers
idb.identifier.pubnumberIDB-WP-01507
idb.operationRG-E1716
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