In the large literature on firm performance, economists have given little attention to entrepreneurs. We use deaths of … more than 500 entrepreneurs as a source of exogenous variation, and ask whether this variation can explain shifts in firm … performance. Using longitudinal data, we find large and sustained effects of entrepreneurs at all levels of the performance …

In the large literature on firm performance, economists have given little attention to entrepreneurs. We use deaths of … more than 500 entrepreneurs as a source of exogenous variation, and ask whether this variation can explain shifts in firm … performance. Using longitudinal data, we find large and sustained effects of entrepreneurs at all levels of the performance …

A tradition from Knight (1921) argues that more risk tolerant individuals are more likely to become entrepreneurs, but …