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Entrepreneurial Couples

Author

Listed:
  • Dahl, Michael S.

    (Aalborg University)

  • van Praag, Mirjam C.

    (Copenhagen Business School)

  • Thompson, Peter

    (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Abstract

We study possible motivations for co-entrepreneurial couples to start up a joint firm, using a sample of 1,069 Danish couples that established a joint enterprise between 2001 and 2010. We compare their pre-entry characteristics, firm performance and post-dissolution private and financial outcomes with a selected set of comparable firms and couples. We find evidence that couples often establish a business together because one spouse – most commonly the female – has limited outside opportunities in the labor market. However, the financial benefits for each of the spouses, and especially the female, are larger in co-entrepreneurial firms, both during the life of the business and post-dissolution. The start-up of co-entrepreneurial firms seems therefore a sound in-vestment in the human capital of both spouses as well as in the reduction of income inequality in the household. We find no evidence of non-pecuniary benefits or costs of co-entrepreneurship.

Suggested Citation

  • Dahl, Michael S. & van Praag, Mirjam C. & Thompson, Peter, 2014. "Entrepreneurial Couples," IZA Discussion Papers 8186, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8186
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    entrepreneurship; motives; performance; couples; co-entrepreneurship;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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