Risk, balanced skills and entrepreneurship

Chihmao Hsieh (), Simon Parker () and Mirjam Praag
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Chihmao Hsieh: Yonsei University

Small Business Economics, 2017, vol. 48, issue 2, No 3, 287-302

Abstract: Abstract This paper proposes that risk aversion encourages individuals to invest in balanced skill profiles, making them more likely to become entrepreneurs. By not taking this possible linkage into account, previous research has underestimated the impacts of both risk aversion and balanced skills on the likelihood individuals choose entrepreneurship. Data on Dutch university graduates provide an illustration supporting our contention. We raise the possibility that even risk-averse people might be suited to entrepreneurship; and it may also help explain why prior research has generated somewhat mixed evidence about the effects of risk aversion on selection into entrepreneurship.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Jack-of-all-trades; Risk; Human capital; Occupational choice; Balanced skills; D81; J24; L26; M13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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Working Paper: Risk, Balanced Skills and Entrepreneurship (2011)
Working Paper: Risk, Balanced Skills and Entrepreneurship (2011)
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DOI: 10.1007/s11187-016-9785-y

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