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Liquidity Constraints and Entrepreneurial Performance

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  • Hvide, Hans K.

    (University of Aberdeen, Business School)

  • Møen, Jarle

    (Dept. of Finance and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

Abstract

If entrepreneurs are liquidity constrained and cannot borrow to operate on an efficient scale, those with more personal wealth should do better than those with less wealth. We investigate this hypothesis using a unique dataset from Norway. Consistent with liquidity constraints being present, we find a strong positive relationship between founder prior wealth and start-up size. The relationship between prior wealth and start-up performance, as measured by profitability on assets, increases for the main bulk of the wealth distribution and decreases sharply at the top. We estimate that profitability on assets increases by about 8 percentage points from the 10th to the 75th percentile of the wealth distribution. This suggests an entrepreneurial production function with a region of increasing returns. Liquidity constraints may then stop entrepreneurs from being able to exploit a "hump" in marginal productivity. From the 75th to the 99th percentile returns drops by about 10 percentage points. This suggests that an abundance of liquidity may to do more harm than good.

Suggested Citation

  • Hvide, Hans K. & Møen, Jarle, 2007. "Liquidity Constraints and Entrepreneurial Performance," Discussion Papers 2007/21, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2007_021
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/163924
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    Cited by:

    1. Ramana Nanda, 2008. "Cost of External Finance and Selection into Entrepreneurship," Harvard Business School Working Papers 08-047, Harvard Business School.
    2. Caliendo, Marco & Künn, Steffen & Weissenberger, Martin, 2020. "Catching up or lagging behind? The long-term business and innovation potential of subsidized start-ups out of unemployment," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    3. Marco Caliendo & Jens Hogenacker & Steffen Künn & Frank Wießner, 2015. "Subsidized start-ups out of unemployment: a comparison to regular business start-ups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 165-190, June.
    4. HansK. Hvide, 2009. "The Quality of Entrepreneurs," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(539), pages 1010-1035, July.
    5. David O. Obuya, 2017. "Debt Financing Option and Financial Performance of Micro and Small Enterprises: A Critical Literature Review," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(3), pages 221-221, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurship; Household Finance; Private benefits; Start-ups; Wealth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

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