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Diversity in Innovation

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  • Paul A. Gompers
  • Sophie Q. Wang

Abstract

In this paper we document the patterns of labor market participation by women and ethnic minorities in venture capital firms and as founders of venture capital-backed startups. We show that from 1990-2016 women have been less than 10% of the entrepreneurial and venture capital labor pool, Hispanics have been around 2%, and African Americans have been less than 1%. This is despite the fact that all three groups have much higher representation in education programs that lead to careers in these sectors as well as having higher representation in other highly-compensated professions. Asians, on the other hand, have much higher representation in the venture capital and entrepreneurial sector than their overall percentages in the labor force. We explore potential supply side explanations including both education attainment as well as relevant prior job experience. We also explore the correlation between diversity and state-level variations. Finally, we discuss how these patterns are consistent with homophily-based hiring and homophily-induced information flows about career choices. We end the paper by discussing areas for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul A. Gompers & Sophie Q. Wang, 2017. "Diversity in Innovation," NBER Working Papers 23082, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23082
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gompers, Paul A. & Mukharlyamov, Vladimir & Xuan, Yuhai, 2016. "The cost of friendship," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(3), pages 626-644.
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    6. Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner & David Scharfstein, 2005. "Entrepreneurial Spawning: Public Corporations and the Genesis of New Ventures, 1986 to 1999," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 577-614, April.
    7. Steven N. Kaplan & Josh Lerner, 2010. "It Ain't Broke: The Past, Present, and Future of Venture Capital," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(2), pages 36-47, April.
    8. Antoni Calvó-Armengol & Matthew O. Jackson, 2004. "The Effects of Social Networks on Employment and Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 426-454, June.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ye Zhang, 2020. "Discrimination in the Venture Capital Industry: Evidence from Field Experiments," Papers 2010.16084, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2022.
    2. Hao, Xuejing & Hu, Feng & Li, Zhu, 2024. "Entrepreneur-investor gender match effects in startup funding: Evidence from an entrepreneurial-themed reality TV show in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 811-832.
    3. William R. Kerr & Frederic Robert-Nicoud, 2020. "Tech Clusters," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 50-76, Summer.
    4. Calder-Wang, Sophie & Gompers, Paul A., 2021. "And the children shall lead: Gender diversity and performance in venture capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 1-22.
    5. Paul A. Gompers & Kevin Huang & Sophie Q. Wang, 2017. "Homophily in Entrepreneurial Team Formation," Harvard Business School Working Papers 17-104, Harvard Business School.
    6. Ewens, Michael & Townsend, Richard R., 2020. "Are early stage investors biased against women?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(3), pages 653-677.
    7. Pavlova, Elitsa & Gvetadze, Salome, 2023. "Female access to finance: A survey of literature," EIF Working Paper Series 2022/87, European Investment Fund (EIF).
    8. Timothy Wojan, 2024. "Exploratory Report: Annual Business Survey Ownership Diversity and Its Association with Patenting and Venture Capital Success," Working Papers 24-62, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    9. Zandberg, Jonathan, 2021. "Family comes first: Reproductive health and the gender gap in entrepreneurship," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(3), pages 838-864.
    10. Elitzur, Ramy & Solodoha, Eliran, 2021. "Does gender matter? Evidence from crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    11. Lin, Tse-Chun & Pursiainen, Vesa, 2023. "Gender differences in reward-based crowdfunding," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

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