Learning Entrepreneurship From Other Entrepreneurs? / Luigi Guiso, Luigi Pistaferri, Fabiano Schivardi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Guiso, Luigi.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Pistaferri, Luigi.

Schivardi, Fabiano.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w21775.

NBER working paper series no. w21775

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2015.

Summary:

We document that individuals who grew up in areas with high density of firms are more likely, as adults, to become entrepreneurs, controlling for the density of firms in their current location. Conditional on becoming entrepreneurs, the same individuals are also more likely to be successful entrepreneurs, as measured by business income or firm productivity. Strikingly, firm density at entrepreneur's young age is more important than current firm density for business performance. These results are not driven by better access to external finance or intergenerational occupation choices. They are instead consistent with entrepreneurial capabilities being at least partly learnable through social contacts. In keeping with this interpretation, we find that entrepreneurs who at the age of 18 lived in areas with a higher firm density tend to adopt better managerial practices (enhancing productivity) later in life.

Notes:

Print version record

December 2015.