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Does attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder medication reduce entrepreneurship?

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  • Juhana Peltonen
  • Edvard Johansson
  • Joakim Wincent

Abstract

Attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly inheritable condition with a rather stable prevalence over time and geography, and it is associated with a broad range of negative life outcomes. Increasing knowledge on the condition has led to a growing trend of dampening ADHD symptoms through medication. Although this development has led to many positive outcomes, the broader societal implications are still poorly understood. In particular, person‐level studies suggest that ADHD‐like behavior may possess some advantages for engaging in entrepreneurship and the initiation of new businesses, which is considered a key activity for economic development. Using recent panel data from 11 countries and one special administrative region (SAR), we investigate if the increasing use of ADHD medication in adults is associated with an unintended outcome of reducing entrepreneurship. We find that a roughly one unit increase in the prevalence of adult ADHD medication is associated with a one unit decrease in limited liability company registrations per working age population. In practical terms, the effect of a one within‐country/SAR standard deviation increase of adult ADHD medication prevalence corresponds to a decrease in new business formation of 20% of its mean in the sample.

Suggested Citation

  • Juhana Peltonen & Edvard Johansson & Joakim Wincent, 2020. "Does attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder medication reduce entrepreneurship?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(9), pages 1071-1077, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:29:y:2020:i:9:p:1071-1077
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.4120
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    Cited by:

    1. Jill Furzer & Maripier Isabelle & Boriana Miloucheva & Audrey Laporte, 2023. "Public drug insurance, moral hazard and children's use of mental health medication: Latent mental health risk‐specific responses to lower out‐of‐pocket treatment costs," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(2), pages 518-538, February.
    2. Kristina Willeke & Patrick Janson & Katharina Zink & Carolin Stupp & Sarah Kittel-Schneider & Anne Berghöfer & Thomas Ewert & Ryan King & Peter U. Heuschmann & Andreas Zapf & Manfred Wildner & Thomas , 2021. "Occurrence of Mental Illness and Mental Health Risks among the Self-Employed: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-25, August.
    3. Jill Furzer & Maripier Isabelle & Boriana Miloucheva & Audrey Laporte, 2021. "Public drug insurance and children’s use of mental health medication: Risk-specific responses to lower out-of-pocket treatment costs," CIRANO Working Papers 2021s-34, CIRANO.
    4. Rajah, Nasir & Bamiatzi, Vassiliki & Williams, Nick, 2021. "How childhood ADHD-like symptoms predict selection into entrepreneurship and implications on entrepreneurial performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(3).

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