TOO SICK TO START: ENTREPRENEUR'S HEALTH AND BUSINESS ENTRY IN TOWNSHIPS AROUND DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA

Li-Wei Chao (), Helena Szrek (), Nuno Sousa Pereira and Mark V. Pauly ()
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Li-Wei Chao: Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, 3718 Locust Walk, McNeil 239, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6298, USA
Helena Szrek: Centre for Economics and Finance, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, Porto, 4200-464, Portugal
Mark V. Pauly: Health Care Systems Department, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 3641 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA

Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), 2010, vol. 15, issue 02, 231-242

Abstract: Unlike large firms with management teams, small businesses are usually run by one key person, the owner-entrepreneur, who bears almost all of the risks and makes most of the decisions related to the business. Because the owner-entrepreneur also embodies most of the firm-specific knowledge capital, health of the owner-entrepreneur is an important factor in the production process. Following a cohort of respondents in townships around Durban, South Africa, over a three-year period, we examined the relationship between an individual's physical health and the decision to start a business. Our results suggest respondents who were recent business entrants were in better health than respondents who did not start new businesses. Moreover, respondents without a business at the beginning of the study who later opened businesses during the study interval were significantly more likely to have better baseline health than those respondents who never started a new business. Hence, good health among entrepreneurs seems to be an important prerequisite to small business entry.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; health; business entry; South Africa; microenterprise; small business (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1142/S108494671000152X

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