Beyond Informality: The Importance of Residential-based Business 

Informal businesses operating from homes are typically excluded from traditional enterprise surveys and undelineated in informal sector analysis. We use nationally representative household survey data from Sub-Saharan Africa and original inclusive enterprise panel data from Ghana to show that these "residential-based informal enterprises" (RIEs) constitute a significant share of the economy, exhibit high persistence, and are significantly differentiated across many observable characteristics. Female entrepreneurs disproportionately sort into RIEs, a gap widening with each child. Conversely, male-owned RIEs positively select on observable profit margins. A simple model demonstrates how gender-asymmetric care burdens drive gendered patterns in location choice despite gender-neutral production.