Gender differences in entrepreneurial propensity: Evidence from matrilineal and patriarchal societies

We examine whether men and women in patriarchal and matrilineal societies differ in their propensity to engage in entrepreneurship. We conduct two studies. Study 1 involves face-to-face interviews to identify individuals who are in the process of starting a new business. We find that men in patriarchal societies are more likely than women to initiate action to start a new business. This result, however, is reversed in matrilineal societies, where women are more likely than men to do so. The results of causal mediation tests suggest that entrepreneurial self-efficacy and fear of business failure explain the gender gap in both societies. Study 2 involves a controlled experiment in the lab that captures individuals' willingness to invest in the creation of a new venture. The results of the experiments are consistent with the survey data: men in patriarchal societies and women in matrilineal societies invest more in new venture creation in a simulated environment. We therefore rule out the simplistic view that women are inherently less likely to enter into entrepreneurship due to innate differences across genders. Rather, gender differences in entrepreneurial propensity are outcome of socialization.     

Do business strategies vary across firms in the banking industry? New perspectives from the bank size–profitability nexus

This study examines the roles of interdependence and policy variations across firms in the causality between bank size and profitability in Nigeria, using second-generation estimators and the Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel Granger non-causality test. The findings support different business strategies and policy variances across banks. Causality is found non-existent in the cases of 11 banks. A unidirectional causality from size to profitability is established in two banks while evidence of a unidirectional causality is established from profitability to bank size in the other two banks. This study concludes that cross-sectional dependence and policy variations across firms matter in the bank size–profitability nexus.     

The Middle-Eastern marriage pattern? Malthusian dynamics in nineteenth-century Egypt

Malthus predicted that fertility rises with income and that people regulate fertility via regulating marriage. However, evidence on the Malthusian equilibrium has been mostly confined to Europe and East Asia. We employ Egypt's population censuses of 1848 and 1868 to provide the first evidence on the preindustrial Malthusian dynamics in the Middle East and North Africa. At the aggregate level, we document rural Egyptian women having a high fertility rate that is close to the Western European level, combined with low age at marriage and low celibacy rate, that are closer to the East Asian levels. This resulted in a uniquely high fertility regime that was probably offset by the high child mortality. Next, we provide individual-level evidence on the positive correlation between fertility and income (occupation). We find that the higher fertility of rural white-collar men is attributed to their marriage behaviour, and not to marital fertility. Specifically, white-collar men's higher polygyny explains 45 per cent of their fertility advantage, whereas their higher marriage rate and lower wife's age at marriage explains 55 per cent. Therefore, polygyny was an additional factor that led to a steeper income–fertility curve than in Western Europe by enabling the rural middle class to out-breed the poor.     

Information and communication technology adoption and unemployment in West Africa Monetary Zone

This study examined the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on unemployment among the countries in West Africa Monetary Zones (WAMZ) for the period 2005–2020. The study engaged the data sourced from World Bank Development Indicators (WDI), International labour organisation (ILO) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The study estimated the fixed and random effect models and pooled mean group estimators. The results indicate a negative and significant effect of ICT adoption on unemployment among countries of WAMZ. On the other hand, the magnitude of the effects differs, depending on the indicator of ICT being examined.