ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the access to credit of women-led micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Beijing and Guangdong Province using data from the 2015 China Micro and Small Enterprise Survey (CMES). It investigates whether women-led MSEs in Beijing and Guangdong face tighter credit constraints and are less likely to apply for bank loans than men-led MSEs. Furthermore, other survey-based data and regression results are used to compare women-led MSEs’ credit constraints and entrepreneurs’ reluctance to apply for bank loans in Beijing and Guangdong, as well as discuss the reasons for such constraints and reluctance. It argues that women-led MSEs in economically developed Beijing are both less likely to face tighter credit constraints and less likely to be reluctant to apply for bank loans compared to men-led MSEs. In contrast, in the less economically developed Guangdong Province, women-led MSEs are more likely to face tighter credit constraints and more reluctant to apply for bank loans. This research examines possible factors affecting whether MSEs face tighter credit constraints and are less likely to apply for loans. In Beijing, no factors were found to have a significant effect on the credit constraints faced by MSEs, while the choice of MSEs not to apply for bank loans was found to be negatively related to the education level of the entrepreneur. In Guangdong Province, the credit constraints faced by MSEs are negatively related to the education level of the entrepreneur, the profitability of the MSE and the MSE’s business structure type. The choice of Guangdong MSEs not to apply for bank loans is negatively related to the education level and age of the entrepreneur, the profitability of the MSE, as well as related to the city in which the MSE is located.