Abstract
A theoretical tradition argues that more risk tolerant individuals are more likely to become entrepreneurs but perform worse. We test and confirm these predictions with several risk tolerance proxies. Using investment data for 400,000 individuals, we find that common stock investors are around 50% more likely to subsequently start up a firm. Firms started up by common stock investors have about 25% lower sales and 15% lower return on assets. The results are similar using personal leverage and other risk-tolerance proxies. We do not find support for alternative explanations such as unobserved wealth or behavioral effects.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 200-223 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | Journal of Financial Economics |
Volume | 111 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 7 Jun 2013 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2014 |
Keywords
- Stock market participation
- Entrepreneurial entry
- Entrepreneurial performance
- Risk tolerance
- Risk aversion