Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/33639 
Year of Publication: 
2005
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 1712
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This article proposes a simultaneous probit equation framework to analyse the business ownership patterns of married couples in the United States. A structural model of knowledge spillovers within couples is formulated and estimated. Empirical analysis reveals significant and substantial positive interdependence of business ownership propensities within couples. We argue that the evidence is consistent with both male and female spouses receiving positive knowledge transfers from the other. Conversely, there appears to be little support for alternative explanations of interdependent occupational choices based on assortative mating, role model effects, risk diversification, or intrahousehold wealth transfers. We conclude that the conventional practice of ignoring occupational interdependence can generate misleading conclusions about the determinants of business ownership in America.
Subjects: 
entrepreneurship
occupational choice
family
business ownership
JEL: 
J23
J24
M13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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