The Women Empowerment and Innovation Nexus: A Global Context

The aim of this study is to explain the influence of women's empowerment on innovation. To achieve this goal, we analyzed a global dataset from 1996 to 2020, covering 68 developed and developing countries and regions, which represent the most extensive sample available for the full core specification. In order to address endogeneity concerns, we apply the system GMM and Lewbel 2SLS estimators. Our results indicate a positive and statistically significant impact of women's economic empowerment on innovation. This effect is robust to alternative measures of innovation and women empowerment; the subcomponents of women empowerment; and alternative estimators that address endogeneity.