Essays on Entrepreneurship in EcuadorAssessing nonpecuniary effects of access to credit for heterogeneous entrepreneurs

Zusammenfassung

This thesis aims to provide empirical evidence about heterogeneity among entrepreneurs and to explore more in depth the multidimensional concept of entrepreneurship in Ecuador. The thesis is structure in four empirical chapters from different perspective as starting point for further research in the country. Chapter I provides an empirical framework to explore heterogeneity among enterprises and shows that microenterprises in Ecuador are highly heterogeneous and differs mainly on its capacity to generate monthly income to satisfy their basic needs, the sector of economic activity and percentage of paid employees. Chapter II explore the presence of mission-drift and trade-offs between social and financial performance. The results of this chapter show that in a context of maximum interest rates and regulatory changes, Cooperatives and Credit Unions have moved up-market to segments that are more profitable, Non-profit Organization are more efficient in terms of outreach but sustainability is not ensure and Banks even though are the major providers of financial services are not the most efficient ones. Chapter III explores gender differences among female and male entrepreneurs in the work-family interface. This chapter shows that female and male entrepreneurs make mostly autonomous entrepreneurial decision-making and are more likely to share decisions about household allocation resources but gender differences appear in decision-making over childbearing and child-rearing. Finally, Chapter IV includes the effect of access to credit over the satisfaction with life of entrepreneurs. The main result of this chapter is that in the context of financial exclusion having access to a credit has a positive but modest effect of the life satisfaction of entrepreneurs but the effect is greater for male than for female entrepreneurs. Even more startling, is shown heterogeneity among female entrepreneurs mask the effects of microcredit programs.