Entrepreneurship and Arts Related Education

The aim of this paper is to improve understanding of the observed high level of entrepreneurship among arts graduates. Specifically, the entrepreneurship rates of university graduates in the arts, architecture and engineering are compared. The occupational choice model applied has three options: wage employment, owning and a combination of the two. The utility function governing the choice includes income as well as an indicator of the disutility resulting from differences between the skills required and the skills supplied. The model implies that an alternative providing a better match might be preferred to one providing a higher income. Using Swedish data, this paper shows that the possibility of using artistic skills has stronger impact on the choice of occupation than income considerations.