Studies Conducted at Texas A&M University on Insurance Recently Reported (Gender Gap In Stem Entrepreneurship: Effects of the Affordable Care Act Reform): Insurance

Health Policy and Law Daily

2024 APR 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- New research on Insurance is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from College Station, Texas, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “Research Summary This article examines whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance reform reduced the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) entrepreneurship. I argue that the ACA mitigated mobility constraints imposed by employer-provided health insurance and encouraged entrepreneurship with important contingencies: effects were limited to women because of gender differences in supply-side cost reduction and demand-side health insurance needs and were specific to women in STEM (vs. non-STEM) entrepreneurship because of the human and financial capital needed to navigate insurance markets.”

Financial support for this research came from National Science Foundation (NSF).

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Texas A&M University, “Leveraging the ACA quasi-experiment, I find consistent evidence of a reduced gender gap in STEM entrepreneurship. Surprisingly, the effects were driven by increased STEM entrepreneurship for married women founding unincorporated businesses. Qualitative interview insights and empirical findings provide explanations for these patterns. Managerial Summary This study examines whether the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) entrepreneurial gender gap can be reduced by institutional factors mitigating labor market mobility constraints imposed by employer-provided work benefits. Through the lens of the US ACA reform, I find that broadened access to more affordable health insurance in the alternative individual insurance markets disproportionately encouraged female (vs. male) STEM (vs. non-STEM) entrepreneurship, thus reducing the STEM entrepreneurial gender gap. Contrary to common assumptions, this effect is driven by married (vs. unmarried) women and is in unincorporated (vs. incorporated) self-employment.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The findings help discern which groups benefit from policy efforts to promote diversity in STEM entrepreneurship and imply that the effectiveness of employer-provided work benefits as retention tools is dependent on various worker characteristics.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Gender Gap In Stem Entrepreneurship: Effects of the Affordable Care Act Reform. Strategic Management Journal, 2024. Strategic Management Journal can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Strategic Management Journal - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1097-0266)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jiayi Bao, Texas A&M University, Mays Business School, Strategy & Entrepreneurship, College Stn, TX, United States.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3594. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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