Institutional environment quality and the longevity of billionaire entrepreneurs

Using self-made billionaire entrepreneurs in China as a proxy for large entrepreneurs, we examine the impact of institutional environment quality on the longevity of such entrepreneurs. While property rights institutions and contracting institutions are important in explaining macroeconomic growth and small firm growth, we find no evidence that they matter to the longevity of billionaire entrepreneurs. However, we find access to finance to be important to the longevity of billionaire entrepreneurs. Our results help better understand the relative importance of various institutional environment forces to the continuous success of billionaire entrepreneurs.