|
on Entrepreneurship |
| By: | Goncalves, Judite (Universidade Nova de Lisboa); Martins, Pedro S. (Queen Mary, University of London) |
| Abstract: | The growth of novel flexible work formats raises a number of questions about their effects upon health and the potential required changes in public policy. However, answering these questions is hampered by lack of suitable data. This is the first paper that draws on comprehensive longitudinal administrative data to examine the impact of self-employment in terms of health. It also considers an objective measure of health – hospital admissions – that is not subject to recall or other biases that may affect previous studies. Our findings, based on a representative sample of over 100,000 individuals followed monthly from 2005 to 2011 in Portugal, indicate that the likelihood of hospital admission of self-employed individuals is about half that of wage workers. This finding holds even when accounting for a potential self-selection of the healthy into self-employment. Similar results are found for mortality rates. |
| Keywords: | self-employment, hospitalization, sick leave, mortality |
| JEL: | I18 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11305&r=ent |
| By: | Pugsley, Benjamin; Sedlacek, Petr; Sterk, Vincent |
| Abstract: | Only half of all startups survive past the age of five and surviving businesses grow at vastly different speeds. Using micro data on employment in the population of U.S. businesses, we estimate that the lion's share of these differences is driven by ex-ante heterogeneity across firms, rather than by ex-post shocks. We embed such heterogeneity in a firm dynamics model and study how ex-ante differences shape the distribution of firm size, ``up-or-out'' dynamics, and the associated gains in aggregate output. ``Gazelles'' --a small subset of startups with particularly high growth potential-- emerge as key drivers of these outcomes. Analyzing changes in the distribution of ex-ante firm heterogeneity over time reveals that the birth rate and growth potential of gazelles has declined, creating substantial aggregate losses. |
| Keywords: | Big Data; Firm Dynamics; Macroeconomics; Startups |
| JEL: | D22 E23 E24 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12670&r=ent |
| By: | Marc-Andreas Muendler; James E. Rauch |
| Abstract: | It is well established that employee spinoffs learn their parents’ technologies, but little is known about their demand-side learning. We exploit the identification in international trade data of parent markets (countries) to investigate whether exporting employee spinoffs of exporting parents have an advantage in accessing their parents’ markets over exporting comparison firms well positioned to learn those markets at arm’s length. We find that, controlling for the greater overlap of spinoffs with their parents’ export products, at entry spinoffs access 51 percent more parent markets than exporting firms in the same 4-digit industries and municipalities as the parents. This advantage shrinks monotonically with time, becoming statistically insignificant four years after entry, indicating that intrafirm learning provides spinoffs with a four-year head start over learning at arm’s length. Spinoffs do not overlap more than comparison firms with parent markets that the parents did not serve at spinoff entry, providing evidence against the alternative hypothesis that product overlap inadequately controls for greater technological similarity of spinoffs to parents. Firm entry into parent markets predicted by spinoff status does not lead to entry into “adjacent” markets the following year. |
| JEL: | F14 L25 L26 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24302&r=ent |
| By: | Hvide, Hans K. (University of Bergen); Oyer, Paul (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | We document three new facts about entrepreneurship. First, a majority of male entrepreneurs start a firm in the same or a closely related industry as their fathers' industry of employment. Second, this tendency is correlated with intelligence: higher-IQ entrepreneurs are less likely to follow their fathers. Third, an entrepreneur that starts a firm in the same 5-digit industry as where his father was employed tends to outperform entrepreneurs in the same industry whose fathers did not work in that industry. We consider various explanations for these facts and conclude that "dinner table human capital", where children obtain industry knowledge through their parents, is an important factor behind what type of firm is started and how well it performs. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, human capital, IQ |
| JEL: | J24 L26 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11303&r=ent |
| By: | Tho Pham (School of Management, Swansea University); Oleksandr Talavera (School of Management, Swansea University); Mao Zhang |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of financial development on entrepreneurs' well-being. Using longitudinal data from China, Russia and Ukraine, we find that Chinese and Russian entrepreneurs experience a higher level of well-being while the Ukrainian self-employed are prone to dissatisfaction. We also observe that the extent to which financial development can improve entrepreneurs' utility differs across countries. First, the development of formal financial sector does not affect Chinese entrepreneurs’ happiness. Second, greater financial development increases life satisfaction of Ukrainian self-employed but decreases Russian entrepreneurs' job satisfaction. The results suggest that financial development could affect well-being through both monetary and nonmonetary channels. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, self-employment, satisfaction, financial development. |
| JEL: | J24 O16 |
| Date: | 2018–01–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swn:wpaper:2018-03&r=ent |
| By: | Robert W. Fairlie; Frank Fossen |
| Abstract: | A common finding in the entrepreneurship literature is that business creation increases in recessions. This counter-cyclical pattern is examined by separating business creation into two components: “opportunity” and “necessity” entrepreneurship. Although there is general agreement in the previous literature on the conceptual distinction between these two factors driving entrepreneurship, there are many challenges to creating a definition that is both objective and empirically feasible. We propose an operational definition of opportunity versus necessity entrepreneurship using readily available nationally representative data. We create a distinction between the two types of entrepreneurship based on the entrepreneur’s prior work status that is consistent with the standard theoretical economic model of entrepreneurship. Using this definition we document that “opportunity” entrepreneurship is pro-cyclical and “necessity” entrepreneurship is counter-cyclical. We also find that “opportunity” vs. “necessity” entrepreneurship is associated with the creation of more growth-oriented businesses. The operational distinction proposed here may be useful for future research in entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, opportunity, necessity, self-employment, business cycle |
| JEL: | L26 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6854&r=ent |
| By: | Bijnens, Gert; Konings, Jozef |
| Abstract: | We build on Decker et al. (2016) who show that business dynamism and entrepreneurship in the U.S. have declined over recent decades and that the characteristics of this decline changed around 2000. Since 2000 the U.S. decline in dynamism has been accompanied by a decline in high-growth, young firms. Using 30 years of data from all for-profit firms incorporated in Belgium, we now offer evidence that Belgium, a far more rigid economy than the U.S., experienced a similar decline in dynamism. Furthermore, the decline set in around 2000 as well. We attribute this not only to the declining share of young firms that become high-growth firms, but more importantly also to the declining propensity for small (not necessarily young) firms to experience fast growth. We do not yet know what caused this decline. Since there are remarkable similarities between Belgium and the U.S. with respect to the secular decline in business dynamism, global trends rather than country specific changes are most likely to be at the basis of this evolution. A possible global trend causing dynamism to decline, is the ICT revolution that started the second half of the '90s. We find preliminary indications that industries with higher ICT intensity have experienced a dynamism trend change during that same period and show a steeper dynamism decline. |
| Keywords: | business dynamism; Entry; high-growth firms |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12615&r=ent |
| By: | Grillitsch, Markus (Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a conceptual and analytical framework for the development of place-based entrepreneurship and innovation policies aiming at industrial diversification. The starting point for this paper is the entrepreneurial ecosystem concept, which is frequently used to inform such policies. However, this concept does not specify the causal mechanisms driving industrial diversification. Furthermore, it remains questionable to what extent the concept can be applied to different regional contexts. In order to address these shortfalls, this paper i) discusses the barriers and opportunities for industrial diversification in different regional contexts, and ii) introduces a place-based policy framework for new industrial path development through entrepreneurship and innovation policies. |
| Keywords: | economic diversification; new industrial path development; innovation; entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial ecosystems; place-based policy |
| JEL: | L50 O10 O30 O38 R10 R58 |
| Date: | 2018–02–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2018_003&r=ent |
| By: | Verdolini, Elena; Bak, Céline; Ruet, Joël; Venkatachalam, Anbumozhi |
| Abstract: | The authors recommend that the G20 target innovative green-technology SMEs as an opportunity to promote financial de-risking while addressing Paris Agreement commitments and UN Sustainable Development Goals. This should be achieved by creating signals for private investors through: (1) a reporting system that can help monitor the scale-up of green-technology SMEs; (2) the use of public funds to signal innovative green-technology SMEs to investors; and (3) the inclusion of SMEs in the design of green finance platforms. By implementing these recommendations, the G20 will ensure that innovative, low-carbon SMEs become attractive, low(er)-risk investment opportunities for the private sector. |
| Keywords: | innovation,green technology,eco-efficiency,SMEs,financial de-risking |
| JEL: | O31 Q55 Q58 E60 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:20188&r=ent |
| By: | Bratti, Massimiliano (University of Milan); De Benedictis, Luca (University of Macerata); Santoni, Gianluca (CEPII, Paris) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we highlight a new complementary channel to the business and social network effect à la Rauch (2001) through which immigrants generate increased export flows from the regions in which they settle to their countries of origin: they can become entrepreneurs. Using very small-scale (NUTS-3) administrative data on immigrants' location in Italy, the local presence of immigrant entrepreneurs (i.e. firms owned by foreign-born entrepreneurs) in the manufacturing sector, and on trade flows in manufacturing between Italian provinces and more than 200 foreign countries, we assess the causal relationship going from diasporas and immigrant entrepreneurs towards export flows. Both the size of the diaspora and the number of immigrant entrepreneurs have a positive, significant and economically meaningful effect on exports. We find that increasing the stock of (non-entrepreneur) immigrants by 10% would lead to a 1.7% increase in exports in manufacturing towards immigrants' countries of origin, while increasing the number of immigrant entrepreneurs in manufacturing by 10% would raise exports by about 0.6%. We also show that, besides these bilateral effects, the population of immigrant entrepreneurs raises a province's overall competitiveness and export flows towards all potential destinations. |
| Keywords: | exports, immigrants, gravity model, immigrant entrepreneurs, Italy |
| JEL: | F10 F14 F22 R10 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11280&r=ent |
| By: | Ayse Imrohoroglu; Cagri S. Kumru; Arm Nakornthab |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study optimal income taxation in a model with entrepreneurial activity. We conduct two types of changes in tax policy: changing the overall progressivity of taxes versus changing the tax rate of the richest 1% of the population. We study the implications of these tax policies on welfare, inequality, and government revenues. Our results indicate that increasing the overall progressivity of taxes results in lower wealth inequality and higher welfare relative to increasing the tax rate on the richest 1% of the population. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, taxation, progressivity, labor supply |
| JEL: | D31 E21 H2 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:acb:cbeeco:2018-660&r=ent |