Monetary policy and gender discrimination in the credit market

Abstract

The studies on monetary policy highlight that a contractionary policy reduces a firm's access to external funds. However, it is unknown whether it affects men and women equally. In this scenario, the aim of this paper is twofold. First, to investigate the differential effect of monetary policy on female- and male-run firms. We find that a contractionary monetary policy widens credit market discrimination, i.e., female-owned and -managed firms receive less funds during a tight monetary policy period. This effect reverses during the expansionary period, i.e., female-run firms are more likely to receive funds than male-run firms. This result implies that during a tight policy period, financial institutions resort to credit rationing and women are the victims of this practice, whereas during an expansionary period, banks are flushed with money and they channelize these excess funds to female-owned firms. Our results also indicate that the adverse effects of the policy fall heavily on small and medium enterprises. Second, to study the impact of gender equality on monetary policy-led credit market discrimination. We find that credit market discrimination during the contractionary period is relatively lower (higher) in a country where gender equality (gap) is higher. This is another evidence that women receive less external funds not based on their lack of repayment ability but rather on society's predetermined notions about their incapability.