IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joepsy/v32y2011i3p425-433.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Self-employment and attitudes towards risk: Timing and unobserved heterogeneity

Author

Listed:
  • Brown, Sarah
  • Dietrich, Michael
  • Ortiz-Nuñez, Aurora
  • Taylor, Karl

Abstract

We explore the relationship between self-employment and attitudes towards financial risk using individual level data drawn from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), which includes measures of individuals' attitudes towards hypothetical gambles allowing us to explore the implications of interpersonal differences in risk attitudes for the probability of self-employment. Our empirical findings suggest that willingness to take financial risk is positively associated with self-employment. By exploiting the panel aspect of the PSID, we find evidence, whilst controlling for unobserved individual heterogeneity, consistent with a causal relationship between attitudes towards risk and self-employment with attitudes towards risk measured prior to becoming self-employed having a statistically significant positive influence on the probability of future self-employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Brown, Sarah & Dietrich, Michael & Ortiz-Nuñez, Aurora & Taylor, Karl, 2011. "Self-employment and attitudes towards risk: Timing and unobserved heterogeneity," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 425-433, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:32:y:2011:i:3:p:425-433
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167487011000304
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruce, Donald, 2000. "Effects of the United States tax system on transitions into self-employment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 545-574, September.
    2. Sarah Brown & Lisa Farrell & Mark N. Harris & John G. Sessions, 2006. "Risk preference and employment contract type," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 169(4), pages 849-863, October.
    3. Dave, Dhaval & Saffer, Henry, 2008. "Alcohol demand and risk preference," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 810-831, December.
    4. Parker, Simon C., 2008. "Entrepreneurship among married couples in the United States: A simultaneous probit approach," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 459-481, June.
    5. Smith, Richard J & Blundell, Richard W, 1986. "An Exogeneity Test for a Simultaneous Equation Tobit Model with an Application to Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 679-685, May.
    6. Robert W. Fairlie, 2002. "Drug Dealing and Legitimate Self-Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(3), pages 538-567, July.
    7. Wiji Arulampalam, 1999. "A Note on Estimated Coefficients in Random Effects Probit Models," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(4), pages 597-602, November.
    8. Masclet, David & Colombier, Nathalie & Denant-Boemont, Laurent & Lohéac, Youenn, 2009. "Group and individual risk preferences: A lottery-choice experiment with self-employed and salaried workers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 470-484, June.
    9. Gulcin Gumus & Tracy Regan, 2007. "Self-Employment and the Role of Health Insurance," Working Papers 0910, University of Miami, Department of Economics.
    10. Earle, John S. & Sakova, Zuzana, 2000. "Business start-ups or disguised unemployment? Evidence on the character of self-employment from transition economies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 575-601, September.
    11. Miles S. Kimball & Claudia R. Sahm & Matthew D. Shapiro, 2009. "Risk Preferences in the PSID: Individual Imputations and Family Covariation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 363-368, May.
    12. Joop Hartog & Ada Ferrer‐i‐Carbonell & Nicole Jonker, 2002. "Linking Measured Risk Aversion to Individual Characteristics," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 3-26.
    13. Parker,Simon C., 2006. "The Economics of Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521030632.
    14. Stephen Martin & Peter C. Smith, 2003. "Using panel methods to model waiting times for National Health Service surgery," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 166(3), pages 369-387, October.
    15. Ekelund, Jesper & Johansson, Edvard & Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta & Lichtermann, Dirk, 2005. "Self-employment and risk aversion--evidence from psychological test data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 649-659, October.
    16. Cameron,A. Colin & Trivedi,Pravin K., 2005. "Microeconometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521848053.
    17. Mundlak, Yair, 1978. "On the Pooling of Time Series and Cross Section Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 69-85, January.
    18. Robert B. Barsky & F. Thomas Juster & Miles S. Kimball & Matthew D. Shapiro, 1997. "Preference Parameters and Behavioral Heterogeneity: An Experimental Approach in the Health and Retirement Study," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 537-579.
    19. C. M. Van Praag & J. S. Cramer, 2001. "The Roots of Entrepreneurship and Labour Demand: Individual Ability and Low Risk Aversion," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(269), pages 45-62, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sarah Brown & Michael Dietrich & Aurora Ortiz Nuñez & Karl Taylor, 2013. "Business ownership and attitudes towards risk," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(13), pages 1731-1740, May.
    2. Sarah Brown & Michael Dietrich & Aurora Ortiz & Karl Taylor, 2007. "Self-Employment and Risk Preference," Working Papers 2007008, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    3. Cho, In Soo, 2011. "Do Gender Differences in Risk Preferences Explain Gender Differences in Labor Supply, Earnings or Occupational Choice?," Staff General Research Papers Archive 34651, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    4. Cho, In Soo & Orazem, Peter, 2011. "Risk Aversion or Risk Management?: How Measures of Risk Aversion Affect Firm Entry and Firm Survival," Staff General Research Papers Archive 34162, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    5. Andrea Leuermann & Sarah Necker, 2011. "Intergenerational Transmission of Risk Attitudes: A Revealed Preference Approach," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 412, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    6. Catia Batista & Janis Umblijs, 2014. "Migration, risk attitudes, and entrepreneurship: evidence from a representative immigrant survey," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-25, December.
    7. Necker, Sarah & Voskort, Andrea, 2014. "Intergenerational transmission of risk attitudes – A revealed preference approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 66-89.
    8. Di Mauro, Carmela & Musumeci, Rosy, 2011. "Linking risk aversion and type of employment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 490-495.
    9. Chris Dawson & Andrew Henley, 2015. "Gender, Risk, and Venture Creation Intentions," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 501-515, April.
    10. Cai, Zhengyu & Winters, John V., 2017. "Self-employment differentials among foreign-born STEM and non-STEM workers," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 371-384.
    11. Daniela Bellani & Bruno Arpino, 2021. "Risk aversion and fertility. Evidence from a lottery question in Italy," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2021_02, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    12. Niklas Elert, 2014. "What determines entry? Evidence from Sweden," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(1), pages 55-92, August.
    13. Robert W. Fairlie & Alicia M. Robb, 2008. "Race and Entrepreneurial Success: Black-, Asian-, and White-Owned Businesses in the United States," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026206281x, December.
    14. Sarah Brown & Lisa Farrell & Mark N. Harris & John G. Sessions, 2006. "Risk preference and employment contract type," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 169(4), pages 849-863, October.
    15. Krčál, Ondřej & Staněk, Rostislav & Slanicay, Martin, 2019. "Made for the job or by the job? A lab-in-the-field experiment with firefighters," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(4), pages 271-276.
    16. Ahn, Taehyun, 2010. "Attitudes toward risk and self-employment of young workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 434-442, April.
    17. Ondřej Krčál & Rostislav Staněk & Martin Slanicay, 2019. "Made for the job or by the job? A lab-in-the-field experiment with firefighters," MUNI ECON Working Papers 2019-05, Masaryk University, revised Feb 2023.
    18. Leuermann, Andrea & Necker, Sarah, 2011. "Intergenerational transmission of risk attitudes: A revealed preference approach," Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 11/4, Walter Eucken Institut e.V..
    19. de Blasio, Guido & De Paola, Maria & Poy, Samuele & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2018. "Risk Aversion and Entrepreneurship: New Evidence Exploiting Exposure to Massive Earthquakes in Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 12057, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Mattias Brachert & Walter Hyll, 2014. "On the Stability of Preferences: Repercussions of Entrepreneurship on Risk Attitudes," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 667, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Risk attitudes Self-employment;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:32:y:2011:i:3:p:425-433. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/joep .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.