Explaining female and male entrepreneurship across 29 countries

The present study aims at explaining female and male entrepreneurship from a country perspective. Explanatory variables are derived from three streams of literature, including the literature on the determinants of entrepreneurship in general, on female labor force participation, and on female entrepreneurship. To test hypotheses we make use of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data, including total entrepreneurial activity rates for both women and men for 2002, as well as a range of possible determinants from standardized national statistics. We find that female and male entrepreneurship are largely influenced by the same factors in the same direction. A remarkable exception is life satisfaction for which we find a positive impact on female entrepreneurship and no impact on male entrepreneurship. The paper pays explicit attention to several methodological aspects of investigating determinants of female and male entrepreneurship.