| As policymakers consider how to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty in the United States, they are increasingly focusing on low-income women and the promise of their evolving role in the economy. The US Small Business Administration's Women's Business Center (WBC) program aims to train and assist women business owners who come from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This paper evaluates whether Women's Business Centers increase the rate of female entrepreneurship among low-income women. The answer to this question is critical to attaining a fuller picture of the program's benefits relative to its costs, which is especially important given the program's continual funding battles.;Using the Current Population Survey and data provided by the Small Business Administration, I find no statistically significant effect on entrepreneurship rates among the target population. While it is conceivable that the lack of statistical significance accurately demonstrates that WBCs produce no effect on entrepreneurship, it is at least equally plausible that issues in the data are distorting the WBCs' true impact. Better data may be necessary to more accurately measure the effect of the WBC program on women's self-employment. In particular, a data source that could provide more detailed information on where women live in relation to the WBCs would help alleviate some of these concerns. Furthermore, endogeneity may have exacerbated the issue: the Metropolitan Statistical Areas that receive funds to establish Women's Business Centers may be systematically different from those that do not, in ways for which I have not accounted in my regressions. Therefore, it remains inconclusive as to whether the existence of WBCs causes more women to become entrepreneurs. Further research is recommended to assess this important question. |
