This report describes a statistical evaluation of the similarities and differences between male and female entrepreneurs and their ventures. The purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of the extent to which entrepreneurship by men and women is different. Using data from the...

This study examines the relationship between education and the choice to become an entrepreneur. In doing so, it builds on previous research linking entrepreneurial activity with educationalattainment. Weaver, Dickson, and Solomon (2006), for example, survey the literature on this topic, and...

This paper attempts to introduce the entrepreneur as the “economic man” into a neoclassical framework and to indicate the role of government in fostering entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur is assumed to behave as if he maximizes utility including his value and desire to succeed, subject to...

While the importance of venture capital to the growth of small firms has been widely discussed during the past decade, little is know about the uses of equity capital, especially internal equity capital, by majority of small firms in the United States. Information from the Federal Reserve...

Does an entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy law encourage more entrepreneurship development at a societal level? How does bankruptcy law affect entrepreneurship development around the world? Drawing on a real options perspective, we argue that if bankrupt entrepreneurs are excessively punished for...

Firm birth has recently been an important topic for many state governments. However, ways in which state governments can influence firm births are not obvious, and their efficiency in fostering firm births in comparison with their peers is even less so. Focusing on the birth of small U.S. firms,...

Studies on venture capital (VC) investment decision using espoused criteria and utility aggregation methods have shown mixed results. Using a latent decision structures approach from psychological scaling literature, we reduce random and systematic biases arising from VC decision environment. In...

This paper tests a real options model of stepwise entrepreneurial entry. We distinguish between part time and full time entry among the self employed in Swedish knowledge intensive industries. Two multinomial logit models tests the entry from employment to part- or full time entry in 1998, and...

This paper attempts to reconcile the risk-bearing characterization of entrepreneurs with the stylized fact that entrepreneurs exhibit conventional risk aversion profiles. We propose that the disparity arises from confounding two distinct dimensions of uncertainty: demand uncertainty and ability...

In this report we have summarized our research into the nature of firm growth in the U.S. over the 5 year period 1998-2003 using comprehensive data on U.S. businesses extracted from the Census database. We have analyzed these data with a particular eye to the departures from standard assumptions...