Marc Cowling

Recent research into the gender aspects of small business financing has shown that in crisis periods, banks actively reward female entrepreneurs with privileged access to loans because they put forward more realistic and cautious funding proposals compared to hubristic male entrepreneurs. We build on this research by considering in greater detail how broader gender differences in entrepreneurial confidence play out in the context of bank lending. Further, we also question whether banks treat overconfident female entrepreneurs differently from their overconfident male counterparts. Our findings show that on average there is no discrimination, but if a female entrepreneur dares to exhibit overconfidence then this changes.