There is substantial research on how women differ from men as new business (venture) founders, but little on how women may differ from men as venture funders. We respond with theory and evidence from an unconventional context: migrants and their remittances to developing countries. We propose that migrant women are more likely to fund household ventures consistent with a greater interest in assisting family members back home. Complementary empirical analyses of remittances to developing countries largely support our proposition.
Cross-sectional data analyses of remitting tendencies among 718 migrants from 50 developing countries in 2011 suggest that migrant women are more likely to remit for investment purposes, particularly when broad family aid motivates a specific remittance transaction. Panel data analyses of venture funding availability in 48 developing countries from 2001-2010 suggest that remittances from migrant communities with higher percentages of women increase venture funding more, particularly for migrant communities from developing countries with less wealth and less gender inequality in employment. In this increasingly important context, women are more likely than men to step into (international) venture funding roles, particularly when socio-economic opportunity and need are greater. Paul M. Vaaler is the John and Bruce Mooty Chair in Law & Business, a joint appointment of the University of Minnesota’s Law School and Carlson School of Management.
In 2019-2020, Paul was on sabbatic leave from the University of Minnesota and resident in Johannesburg, South Africa as a Fulbright Scholar affiliated with the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science and the University of Limpopo’s School of Economics and Management. He studies risk and investment behaviour by foreign firms and individuals active in developing countries undergoing policy reforms. Paul received his BA in History from Carleton College (Northfield, Minnesota), his MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, his JD from Harvard Law School, and his PhD in Strategic Management from the University of Minnesota.
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