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on Entrepreneurship |
| By: | Luigi Guiso; Aldo Rustichini |
| Abstract: | We collect information on prenatal testosterone in a large sample of entrepreneurs by measuring the length of their 2th to 4th fingers in face to face interviews. Entrepreneurs with higher exposure to prenatal testosterone (lower second to fourth digit ratio) manage larger firms, are matched with larger firms when acquire control and experience faster average growth over the years they manage the firm. We also find that prenatal testosterone is correlated with elicited measures of entrepreneurial skills such as ability to stand work, and the latter are correlated with firm size. This evidence suggests entrepreneurial skills have a biological component and is consistent with models of the size distribution of firms based on entrepreneurial ability. However, firms run by high-testosterone entrepreneurs have lower profitability as measured by return on assets. We offer evidence that this is because the same biological factor that enhances entrepreneurial skills also induces empire building preferences, which leads high-testosterone entrepreneurs to target a firm size that exceeds the profit maximizing value. |
| Keywords: | Firm size distribution, Entrepreneurial success, Digit ratio |
| JEL: | L26 L21 L25 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2011/01&r=ent |
| By: | Luigi Guiso; Aldo Rustichini |
| Abstract: | The ratio of second to fourth digit (2D4D) has been shown to correlate negatively with entrepreneurial skills and financial success. We document that in a sample of entrepreneurs women have a lower 2D4D ratio than men, in sharp contrast with the features of the distribution in random samples. Exploiting variation across communities in indices correlated with women emancipation, we show that in regions where women are less emancipated their average DR is lower than that of men compared to regions with higher indices. This finding is consistent with the existence of gender related obstacles into entrepreneurship so that only women with well above average entrepreneurial skills find it attractive to self-select into entrepreneurship. This finding can rationalize three facts: a) fewer women than men are entrepreneurs; b) the proportion of women among entrepreneurs tends to be higher in countries with higher women emancipation; c) women who break the barrier into entrepreneurship seem to show more masculine traits. We also find that once women enter entrepreneurship, they are equally able than man to translate their ability into outcomes for the firm. |
| Keywords: | Women emancipation, Entrepreneurial ability, Digit Ratio, Testosterone, Entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | L26 L21 L25 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2011/02&r=ent |
| By: | Jose Maria Millan (University of Huelva); Jolanda Hessels (Erasmus School of Economics); Roy Thurik (Erasmus School of Economics); Rafael Aguado (University of Huelva) |
| Abstract: | Job satisfaction of self-employed and paid-employed workers is analyzed using the European Community Household Panel for the EU-15 covering the years 1994-2001. We distinguish between two types of job satisfaction, i.e. job satisfaction in terms of type of work and job satisfaction in terms of job security. Findings from our generalized ordered logit regressions indicate that self-employed individuals as compared to paid employees are more likely to be satisfied with their present jobs in terms of type of work and less likely to be satisfied in terms of job security. The findings also provide many insights into the determinants of the two types of job satisfaction for both the self-employed and paid employees. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship; self-employment; job satisfaction; Europe |
| JEL: | J24 J28 L26 O52 |
| Date: | 2011–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20110043&r=ent |
| By: | Marco Caliendo; Frank M. Fossen; Alexander S. Kritikos |
| Abstract: | This paper systematically investigates whether different kinds of personality characteristics influence entrepreneurial development. On the basis of a large, representative household panel survey, we examine the extent to which the Big Five traits and further personality characteristics, which are more specifically related to entrepreneurial tasks, influence entry into self-employment and survival of self-employed persons in Germany. The empirical analysis reveals that among the specific characteristics in particular "risk attitudes" and "locus of control" have strong effects on entry and survival. With respect to the Big Five approach, in particular the traits "openness to experience" and "extraversion" and to a lower extent "agreeableness" and "neuroticism" help to explain entrepreneurial development. The explanatory power of the Big Five is comparable to one of the most prominent determinants of entrepreneurship - education - and approximately three times larger than parental selfemployment. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Personality, Big Five, Risk Aversion, Locus of Control |
| JEL: | D81 J23 M13 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1113&r=ent |
| By: | Giacomin, Olivier; Janssen, Frank; Guyot, Jean-luc; Lohest, Olivier |
| Abstract: | Few studies have tried to identify the impact of the socio-economic characteristics of entrepreneurs on their opportunity-necessity positioning. Based on a sample of 538 entrepreneurs, we point out that individuals who get involved in an entrepreneurial process, have encountered a situation of necessity and/or opportunity and that the latter can take various forms. We point out the impact of the socio-economic characteristics of entrepreneurs on the alignment of their project with a necessity or opportunity entrepreneurial dynamics. The existence of sub-profiles of entrepreneurs within the necessity-opportunity typology is also highlighted. We point out, for instance, that not all jobseekers are necessity entrepreneurs and that new venture creation based on family pressure may convey both a necessity and opportunity dimension. Finally, our survey reveals a new kind of entrepreneurship: the hobby entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Necessity - Opportunity - motivations |
| JEL: | L2 L26 |
| Date: | 2011–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:29506&r=ent |
| By: | Chiara Pederzoli; Grid Thoma; Costanza Torricelli |
| Abstract: | Financial constraints are particularly severe for R&D projects of SMEs, which cannot generally rely on equity markets and, in the EU, on a sufficiently developed VC industry. If innovative SMEs have to depend on banks to finance their R&D projects, it is particularly important to develop models able to estimate their probability of default (PD) in consideration of their peculiar features. Based on the signaling value of some innovative assets, the purpose of this paper is to show the importance to include them into models which have proved to be successful for SMEs. To this end, we take a logit model and test it on a unique dataset of innovative SMEs (based on PATSTAT database, EPO BULLETIN and AMADEUS) to estimate a two-year PD with default years 2006-2008. In the regression analysis the innovation-related variables are two in order to account for R&D productivity at the level of the firm and to consider the value of the inventive output. Our analyses first address measurement issues concerning innovation-related variable and then show that, while the accounting variables and the patent value are always significant with the expected sign, the patent number per se reduces the PD only in the presence of an appropriate equity level. |
| Keywords: | innovative SMEs; default probability; patent value |
| JEL: | G21 G32 C25 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:wcefin:11031&r=ent |
| By: | Neil Lee; Max Nathan |
| Abstract: | London is one of the world's major cities, and one of its most diverse. London's cultural diversity is widely seen as a social asset, but there is little hard evidence on its importance for the city's businesses. Theory and evidence suggest various links between urban cultural diversity and innovation, at individual, firm and urban level. This paper uses a sample of 7,400 firms to investigate, exploiting the natural experiment of A8 accession. The results, which are robust to most endogeneity challenges, suggest there is a small but significant 'diversity bonus' for London firms. Diverse management teams are particularly important for ideas generation, reaching international markets and serving London's cosmopolitan population. |
| Keywords: | cities, innovation, entrepreneurship, cultural diversity, migration, London |
| JEL: | J61 L21 M13 O11 O31 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0069&r=ent |
| By: | Carlos Bozzoli; Tilman Brück; Nina Wald |
| Abstract: | Many Colombians are confronted with the ongoing conflict that influences their decision making in everyday life, including their behavior in labor markets. This study focuses on the impact of violent conflict on self-employment, enlarging the usual determinants with a set of conflict variables. In order to estimate the effect of conflict on selfemployment, we employ fixed effects estimation. Three datasets are combined for estimation: the Familias en Acción dataset delivers information about individuals, a second dataset contains different indicators of the Colombian conflict at the municipality level and the third dataset includes taxes to measure a municipality’s economic situation. Our results show that high homicide and displacement rates in the community of origin reduces self-employment, while a high influx of displaced increases the probability of self-employment in the destination municipality. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcn:rwpapr:43&r=ent |
| By: | Quan Hoang Vuong; Van Nhue Dam; Daniel van Houtte; Tri Dung Tran |
| Abstract: | In this research, we aim to develop a conceptual framework to assess the entrepreneurial properties of the Vietnamese reform, known as Doi Moi, even before the kickoff of Doi Moi policy itself. We argued that unlike many other scholars’ assertion, economic crisis and harsh realities were neither necessary nor sufficient conditions for the reform to take place, but the entrepreurial elements and undertaking were, at least for case of Vietnam’s reform. Entrepreneurial process on the one hand sought for structural changes, kicked off innovation, and on the other its induced outcome further invited changes and associated opportunities. The paper also concludes that an assessment of possibility for the next stage of Doi Moi in should take into account the entrepreneurial factors of the economy, and by predicting the emergence of new entrepreneurial facets in the next phase of economic development. |
| Keywords: | Economic Reform; Transition Economies; Vietnam’s Doi Moi; Entrepreneurship; Economic Crisis; Government Policy; Communist Countries |
| JEL: | G18 E22 L14 L26 P20 P31 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/79701&r=ent |
| By: | Aradhna Aggarwal (Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University and the Department of Business Economics, University of Delhi, New Delhi 110021 INDIA); Takahiro Sato (Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of firms‟ dynamics on industry level productivity growth in India during the period 2000-01 to 2005-06 using plant level panel data of 22 manufacturing industries. The empirical analysis is based on decomposition techniques of aggregate productivity growth. The analysis is confined to large sector plants. Results suggest that the contribution of entry of new plants to aggregate productivity growth is positive in most industries. While newly established plants have rather small entry effect, small plants that grow and enter the large size class have substantial effects on industry level productivity growth. In low tech matured industries entry effects are supported by the productivity growth of the continuing firms. In medium tech industries entry effects are modest; productivity growth of the continuing firms is supported by reallocation effects. In high tech industries all the three effects seem to reinforce productivity growth. |
| JEL: | O14 O33 O53 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2011-07&r=ent |
| By: | Richard Fabling (Reserve Bank of New Zealand) |
| Abstract: | Having good longitudinal identifiers is important in empirical microeconomics, since researchers often need to be able to observe the same unit over time to make causal inferences. However, firm identifiers in Statistics New Zealand’s Longitudinal Business Database can be “broken” by, among other things, changes in the legal status of the firm. This paper proposes a simple method for repairing broken firm identifiers, making use of existing plant migration data. We show that making such repairs materially reduces the apparent rate of business entry and exit, and allows real economic phenomena, such as small business incorporation, to be observed for the first time. |
| Keywords: | firm identifiers; entry and exit; plant transfers |
| JEL: | D20 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:11_01&r=ent |
| By: | Mika Pajarinen; Petri Rouvinen; Pekka Ylä-Anttila |
| Abstract: | The study investigates empirically how ownership affects firms’ domestic employment and its fluctuations. We look at six different ownership categories : first generation family businesses, second generation (or older) family businesses, state-owned companies, foreign-owned companies, publicly listed companies, and others (e.g. co-operatives and non-listed, non-family companies). It turns out that ownership matters. Volatility of employment in listed companies is much higher than in other firms. State-owned companies show the highest stability in employment, and they have also reduced their personnel less than others during the economic crisis of 2008-2009. The group of “second generation family businesses” shows higher stability of employment than “first generation”. Family businesses (especially the second or subsequent generation enterprises) are typically not high-growth firms. They seem to prefer stability over swift growth. |
| Keywords: | ownership structure, family business, business objectives, employment, growth |
| JEL: | G32 L21 M14 |
| Date: | 2011–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1242&r=ent |