Are (Active) Entrepreneurs a Different Breed?

We present data from an incentivized online experiment and responses from a set ofvalidated psychological questionnaires to measure entrepreneurs' risk and timepreferences and to identify entrepreneurs' personality characteristics. The analysesof the data suggest that intrinsic motivation positively relates to the likelihood ofowning a business (i.e., being an active entrepreneur). We also found that subjectswho scored higher on drive were relatively more risk seeking while those who scoredhigher on pessimism were more patient. The results of our study highlight theimportance of studying personality traits to better understand what drives peopleto own a business