Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58976 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6200
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper proposes that risk aversion encourages individuals to invest in balanced skill profiles, making them more likely to become entrepreneurs. By not having taken this possible linkage into account, previous research has underestimated the impacts both of risk aversion and balanced skills on the likelihood individuals choose entrepreneurship. Data on Dutch university graduates provides evidence which supports this contention. It thereby raises the possibility that even risk-averse people might be suited to entrepreneurship; and it may also help explain why prior research has generated mixed evidence about the effects of risk aversion on selection into entrepreneurship.
Subjects: 
entrepreneurship
jack-of-all-trades
risk
human capital
occupational choice
JEL: 
D81
J24
L26
M13
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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