Employing a large dataset regarding venture capital investments in US Internet firms, we analyze the effect of the current financial crisis on the venture capital market. Using regression analysis, we find that the financial crisis led to a 20% decrease in the average amount of funds raised per...

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (GSOEP), we analyze whether necessity and opportunity entrepreneurs differ in terms of self-employment duration. We find that the two types of entrepreneurs differ regarding their duration in self-employment. Once controlled for educational...

This study analyzes the effect of the 2008 financial crisis on the venture capital market. We show that the crisis is associated with a decrease in the number of initial funding rounds as well as with a decrease in the amount of funds raised in later funding rounds. The effects of the crisis...

The notion of risk and entrepreneurship has been widely discussed in the entrepreneurship literature. Starting a business involves risk and requires a risk-taking attitude. Most studies have com-pared entrepreneurs with non-entrepreneurs such as managers or bankers. So far, little research...

Applying Lazear’s jack-of-all-trades theory we investigate the formation of entrepreneurial skills in two datasets on innovative new firms. Our results suggest that traditional human capital indicators individually have little or no influence on entrepreneurial skills. However, consistent with...

This paper examines the effects and origins of balanced skills among nascent entrepreneurs. In a first step we apply Lazear’s jack-of-all-trades theory to investigate performance effects of a balanced skill set. Second, we investigate potential sources of balanced skills, thereby testing the...

What predicts a person's venture creation success over the course of the career, such as making progress in the venture creation process and multiple successful venture creations? Applying a life span approach of human development, this study examined the effect of early entrepreneurial...

This paper seeks to better understand the link between regional characteristics and individual entrepreneurship. We combine individual-level GEM data for Western Germany with regional-level data, using multi-level analysis to test our hypotheses. We find no direct link between regional knowledge...

Vor dem Hintergrund von Markt- und Staatsversagenstatbeständen leitet die wirtschaftstheoretische Literatur mögliche Hemmnisse für Existenzgründungen ab. Die vorliegende Studie unternimmt eine Systematisierung unterschiedlicher Facetten entsprechender empirischer Evidenz. Hierbei liegt ein...

Our paper uses data from the German Socio Economic Panel Study (GSOEP) to analyze how necessity and opportunity entrepreneurs differ in kind and in earnings and what the determinants of the latter are. We estimate probit and random effects panel data models in order to address these questions....