Nascent entrepreneurship and race: Evidence from the GATE experiment

Using data from Project GATE (Growing America Through Entrepreneurship), an experimental-design entrepreneurship training program, I show that white nascent entrepreneurs were more likely than blacks to start abusiness, become self-employed, and achieve high self-employment earnings. Empirical analyses show that large portions of the white-black self-employment gaps were because whites were more likely to have access to start-up financing. However, white-black differences in human capital and business skills played a limited role in explaining white-black self-employment gaps. Analyses of program effects show that the program helped participants to start a business and become self-employed, but did little to reduce white-black self-employment gaps.