Entrepreneurial activity and education in Italy

The paper contributes to the empirical literature about the relationship between formal education attainments, specific entrepreneurship training and firm formation process. Data come from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey, which collects information on business formation in many countries. After a validation check of gem entrepreneurship measures with Labour Force Survey's, the paper presents a descriptive comparative analysis of new firm formation process in Italy and other EU countries, looking at how it is related to gender, education, and other specific characteristics of the new firms. Results confirm anecdotic evidence: in Italy much has to be done to foster high-tech and high job growth entrepreneurship. gem 2008 survey gives a flavour of the diffusion of entrepreneurship training in Europe. Italy appears to lag behind other countries in this respect. Controlling for many factors, the empirical model tests the probability of becoming entrepreneur in Italy: it is estimated to be higher than in other countries, but higher education attainments are related to lower probabilities of starting a business. Moreover, specific entrepreneurship education in Italy results to negatively affect the starting-up decisions.