Gender differences in business survival: Evidence on migrant entrepreneurship

This paper draws on a longitudinal dataset of 165,515 firms that were economically active between 1997 and 2012 in Milan (Italy) to study gender differences in business survival within and between different eighteen groups, formed on the basis of the country of birth of the entrepreneurs. Kaplan-Meier estimates and piecewise-constant exponential hazard models show that, holding a set of individual and business covariates constant, the risk of business closure is always higher for female single proprietors. The highest gender differences in business survival are found among entrepreneurs born in Bangladesh, Morocco, and Senegal. Conversely, for female single proprietors born in Italy and China median survival time and the risk of business closure are quite similar to those of their male counterparts.