A Golden Opportunity: The Gold Rush, Entrepreneurship and Culture

Michael Stuetzer (), Abel Brodeur, Martin Obschonka, David Audretsch (), Peter J. Rentfrow (), Jeff Potter () and Samuel D. Gosling ()
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Michael Stuetzer: Technische Universität Ilmenau
Martin Obschonka: Queensland University of Technology
David Audretsch: Indiana University
Peter J. Rentfrow: University of Cambridge
Jeff Potter: Atof Inc., Cambridge
Samuel D. Gosling: University of Texas at Austin
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Michael Stützer

No 14894, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study the origins of entrepreneurship (culture) in the United States. For the analysis we make use of a quasi-natural experiment – the gold rush in the second part of the 19th century. We argue that the presence of gold attracted individuals with entrepreneurial personality traits. Due to a genetic founder effect and the formation of an entrepreneurship culture, we expect gold rush counties to have higher entrepreneurship rates. The analysis shows that gold rush counties indeed have higher entrepreneurship rates from 1910, when records began, until the present as well as a higher prevalence of entrepreneurial traits in the populace.

Keywords: gold rush; entrepreneurship; culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L26 N5 N9 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 83 pages
Date: 2021-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-ent, nep-evo, nep-geo, nep-gro, nep-his, nep-ino and nep-sbm
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