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Entrepreneurship and Financial Incentives of Return, Risk, and Skew

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  • Peter Berkhout
  • Joop Hartog
  • Mirjam van Praag

Abstract

We focus on the role of the opportunity cost in the choice for entrepreneurship in favor of wage employment, that is, the wages given up as an employee. We argue that just like outside observers, potential entrepreneurs will face great difficulty to predict their earnings from entrepreneurship. The focus on earnings forgone may help to solve the lack of robust empirical support for the effect of financial incentives on the decision to become an entrepreneur. We find, consistent with standard theory, that a higher mean, lower variance, and higher skew in the relevant wage distribution reduce the likelihood of entrepreneurship.

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  • Peter Berkhout & Joop Hartog & Mirjam van Praag, 2016. "Entrepreneurship and Financial Incentives of Return, Risk, and Skew," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(2), pages 249-268, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:40:y:2016:i:2:p:249-268
    DOI: 10.1111/etap.12219
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    Cited by:

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    2. Gänser-Stickler, Gertraud M. & Schulz, Matthias & Schwens, Christian, 2022. "Sitting on the fence - Untangling the role of uncertainty in entrepreneurship and paid employment for hybrid entry," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(2).
    3. Sorgner, Alina & Fritsch, Michael, 2018. "Entrepreneurial Career Paths: Occupational Environments and the Propensity to Become Self-Employed," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 234990, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    4. M. Diane Burton & Jesper B. Sørensen & Stanislav D. Dobrev, 2016. "A Careers Perspective on Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(2), pages 237-247, March.
    5. Fossen, Frank M. & Sorgner, Alina, 2021. "Digitalization of work and entry into entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 548-563.
    6. Bachmann, Ronald & Gonschor, Myrielle & Milasi, Santo & Mitra, Alessio, 2023. "Technological progress and the dynamics of self-employment: Worker-level evidence for Europe," Ruhr Economic Papers 1023, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    7. Alina Sorgner & Michael Fritsch, 2018. "Entrepreneurial career paths: occupational context and the propensity to become self-employed," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 129-152, June.
    8. Catherine Laffineur & Maria Minniti & Benjamin Montmartin, 2023. "Does Knowledge in Management Foster Firm Creation and Performance?," GREDEG Working Papers 2023-19, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    9. Leif Brändle & Andreas Kuckertz, 2022. "Staged entrepreneurship: the formation of hybrid and spawning entrepreneurial intentions," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(6), pages 955-996, August.
    10. Laffineur, Catherine & Dubard Barbosa, Saulo & Fayolle, Alain & Montmartin, Benjamin, 2020. "The unshackled entrepreneur: Occupational determinants of entrepreneurial effort," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(5).
    11. Ignacia Benitez & Claudio A. Bonilla & Marcos Vergara, 2024. "Hybrid entrepreneurship and risk," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 1171-1196, October.
    12. Monia Lougui & Anders Broström, 2021. "New firm formation in the wake of mergers and acquisitions: An exploration of push and pull factors," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 65-89, January.
    13. Lougui, Monia & Broström, Anders, 2016. "New firm formation in the wake of mergers and acquisitions: Are employees pushed or pulled into entrepreneurship?," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 427, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.

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