This paper focuses on the question of whether improving the competence of new business founders through programs that offer external expertise enhances the duration of self-employment. In our analysis, we focus on three different programs that are provided along with a financial subsidy and that...

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...