Transparency and Gender: The Impact of Electronic Purchasing on Access to Public Bidding by Women-led Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

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Date
Dec 2021
In recent years, initiatives to use digital government in public bidding have become increasingly popular among public policy officials, given the gains it produces in efficiency and transparency. However, these initiatives can also have indirect effects on other variables. This document presents evidence on the impact of the COMPR.AR electronic purchasing platform on the participation of women entrepreneurs in public bidding in Argentina. The results show that, depending on the estimation model used, COMPR.AR increased the probability that a bid will be awarded to a woman-led business by between 2.48 and 4.22 percent. This study contributes to the literature specialized in generating causal evidence on how digital government reforms can have a considerable effect in promoting the participation of women in public purchasing.