March 19, 2026 9:43AM # Bank Deregulation, New Businesses, and Race and Gender By [Jeffrey Miron](https://www.cato.org/people/jeffrey-miron) --- SHARE Listen to this article Generated with [ ElevenLabs](https://elevenlabs.io/) AI technology. Loading the [Elevenlabs Text to Speech](https://elevenlabs.io/text-to-speech) AudioNative Player... ![Business Team Looking at Sticky Notes](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/2025-03/management-sticky-notes.jpg?itok=bLF2sWUs) Women and minorities start businesses at [significantly lower rates](https://www.nber.org/be/20231/gender-and-race-gaps-path-startup-success?page=1&perPage=50#:~:text=Men%20start%20new%20businesses%20at%20a%20rate%2064%20percent%20higher%20than%20that%20for%20women.%20Blacks%20start%20new%20businesses%20at%20a%2022%20percent%20lower%20rate%20than%20Whites.) than men and whites. [One study](https://www.cato.org/research-briefs-economic-policy/bank-competition-entrepreneurial-gaps-evidence-bank-deregulation) examines whether this disparity reflects, in part, access to financing, which > has long been recognized as a major obstacle to business success, particularly for racial minorities. By measuring the availability of credit before and after passage of major banking bills, the study finds that > the deregulation of interstate banking in the United States between 1994 and 2021 narrowed gender and racial disparities in entrepreneurship by expanding and improving banking services, reducing discrimination in the financial market, and narrowing gaps in firm performance. Once more, deregulation enables positive change through the free market. *Cross-posted from* [*Substack*](https://jeffreymiron.substack.com/p/immigration-restrictions-cause-enforcement)*.* ##### Related Tags [Economics](https://www.cato.org/economics), [Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).