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And the children shall lead: Gender diversity and performance in venture capital

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  • Calder-Wang, Sophie
  • Gompers, Paul A.

Abstract

Given overall lack of gender diversity in the venture capital and entrepreneurship industry shown in Calder-Wang and Gompers (2017) we ask: What promotes greater gender diversity in hiring? Does diversity lead to better firm performance and higher investment returns? In this paper, using a unique dataset of the gender of venture capital partners’ children, we find strong evidence that when partners have more daughters, the propensity to hire female partners increases. Moreover, our instrumental variable results suggest that increased gender diversity improves deal and fund performance. Lastly, the effects are primarily driven by the gender of senior partners’ children.

Suggested Citation

  • Calder-Wang, Sophie & Gompers, Paul A., 2021. "And the children shall lead: Gender diversity and performance in venture capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 1-22.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:142:y:2021:i:1:p:1-22
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2020.06.026
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    Cited by:

    1. Dimitris Christopoulos & Stefan Koeppl & Monika Köppl-Turyna, 2022. "Syndication networks and company survival: evidence from European venture capital deals," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 105-135, April.
    2. Margareta Ilie & Constantin Ilie, 2024. "Reasons Why Female Students Do Not Start a Business? A Brief Analysis," Economics and Applied Informatics, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 2, pages 26-32.
    3. Thomas Hellmann & Ilona Mostipan & Nir Vulkan, 2019. "Be Careful What You Ask For: Fundraising Strategies in Equity Crowdfunding," NBER Working Papers 26275, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Josh Lerner & Ramana Nanda, 2020. "Venture Capital's Role in Financing Innovation: What We Know and How Much We Still Need to Learn," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 237-261, Summer.
    5. Xu, Lei & Ou, Amy Y. & Park, Haemin Dennis & Jiang, Han, 2024. "Breaking barriers or maintaining status quo? Female representation in decision-making group of venture capital firms and the funding of woman-led businesses," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(1).
    6. Ewens, Michael & Townsend, Richard R., 2020. "Are early stage investors biased against women?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(3), pages 653-677.
    7. Pavlova, Elitsa & Gvetadze, Salome, 2023. "Female access to finance: A survey of literature," EIF Working Paper Series 2022/87, European Investment Fund (EIF).
    8. Arceo-Gomez, Eva O. & Campos-Vazquez, Raymundo M., 2022. "Gender Bias in Evaluation Processes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    9. Batabyal, Amitrajeet A. & Yoo, Seung Jick, 2022. "Tax policy and interregional competition for mobile venture capital by the creative class," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    10. Homroy, Swarnodeep & Mukherjee, Shibashish, 2021. "The role of employer learning and regulatory interventions in mitigating executive gender pay gap," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Xu, Xixiong & Lin, Cuiliang & Wang, Maochuan, 2024. "Does parenting daughters increase corporate cash dividends? Evidence from Chinese family firms," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    12. Amitabh Chandra & Cirrus Foroughi & Lauren Mostrom, 2020. "Venture Capital-Led Entrepreneurship in Health Care," NBER Chapters, in: The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth, pages 475-498, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Ewens, Michael, 2022. "Race and Gender in Entrepreneurial Finance," SocArXiv djf8z, Center for Open Science.
    14. Qianqian Du & Thomas F. Hellmann, 2019. "Getting Tired of Your Friends: The Dynamics of Venture Capital Relationships," NBER Working Papers 26274, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Cao, Ruiqing & Koning, Rembrand & Nanda, Ramana, 2020. "Biased sampling of early users and the direction of startup innovation," SocArXiv g6wjn, Center for Open Science.
    16. Dewald, Frederick P. & Fan, Zaifeng, 2022. "How different are minority managers from White managers in the mutual fund industry?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Venture capital; Gender diversity;

    JEL classification:

    • G02 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Behavioral Finance: Underlying Principles
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • L20 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - General

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