# **3.3.3 Sample representativeness**

Given that our estimations are data demanding, we nevertheless dropped a large number of observations. To ensure that we do not draw conclusions based on smaller samples from some countries, we re-estimate our models excluding from the sample countries having fewer than 50 observations.<sup>28</sup> Estimates remain qualitatively similar although they are statistically weaker in some cases (Tables A.12 and A.13 in the Appendix).

**3.3.4 Threshold for classifying traditional countries** Our classification of countries in more or less traditional categories is based on the median value of the WVS social perception measure. We re-estimate our models using a different threshold based on terciles of the social and cultural norms measure. We define more traditional countries as those that have a social perception measure above the 66th percentile of the cross-country social perceptions measure distribution. Our results are fairly robust to this alternative threshold (Tables A.14 and A.15 in the Appendix).<sup>29</sup>

**3.3.5 Alternative measures of gender and social norms** Given that social norms are an important driver of female economic outcomes and gender inequalities (Bussolo et al., 2024), we use the female labor force participation (FLFP) rate in 2007 to classify countries on their traditionality. As social norms constrain women’s economic choices (Jayachandran, 2021), our use of the female labor force participation measure represents an outcome-based proxy for social norms, in contrast to the value-based indicator from WVS. An advantage of using FLFP over WVS is that it is consistently available for all the countries in our sample from the World Development Indicators and encapsulates many aspects of social norms. As expected, the measure of gender norms from WVS and FLFP are highly correlated (see Appendix Figure A.2). It is therefore not surprising that repeating our estimations yields results that are broadly consistent with using the WVS to classify countries as more or less traditional (Panel A of Tables A.16 and A.17 in the Appendix).<sup>30</sup>

In addition, we use information from Women, Business and the Law (WBL) (World Bank, 2024). WBL measures many aspects of laws and policies critical for women’s economic empowerment, including laws and regulations related to women’s agency and freedom of movement, protection against workplace discrimination based on gender, mandates of equal remuneration for women and men for work of equal value, constraints to a woman’s ability to start and run a business, among others. Panels B and C of the Appendix Tables A.16 and A.17 present results when using the WBL index and the entrepreneurship component of the WBL index to classify countries in more or less traditional.<sup>31</sup> When using the WBL index and the component relating to entrepreneurship, the

> 28Ideally, the minimum sample size should possibly be 100, however, due to constraints on sample size for firms reporting loan amount, we use a lower threshold.

> 29Using this threshold, the number of more traditional countries is 20 while the remaining 41 countries are classified as less traditional.

> 30When using FLFP, the number of more traditional countries is 28 while the remaining 33 countries are classified as less traditional.

> 31When using the WBL index, 32 countries are classified as more traditional and 29 as less traditional, although the figures are 52 and 9 when using the entrepreneurship component. This unbalanced division in the latter is explained by

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