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Lifting the iron curtain: school-age education and entrepreneurial intentions

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  • Oliver Falck
  • Robert Gold
  • Stephan Heblich

Abstract

We exploit Germany’s reunification to identify how school-age education affects entrepreneurial intentions. We look at university students in reunified Germany who were born before the Iron Curtain fell. During school age, all students in the West German control group received formal and informal education in a free-market economy, while East German students did or did not receive free-market education. Difference-in-differences estimations show that school-age education in a free-market economy increases entrepreneurial intentions. An event study supports the common-trends assumption. Results remain robust in matched samples and when we exploit within-student variation in occupational intentions to control for unobserved individual characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Oliver Falck & Robert Gold & Stephan Heblich, 2017. "Lifting the iron curtain: school-age education and entrepreneurial intentions," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(5), pages 1111-1148.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:17:y:2017:i:5:p:1111-1148.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Andrieş, Alin Marius & Plopeanu, Aurelian-Petruş & Sprincean, Nicu, 2023. "Institutional determinants of households’ financial investment behaviour across European countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 300-325.
    3. David B Audretsch & Dirk Christian Dohse & João Pereira dos Santos, 2020. "The effects of highway tolls on private business activity—results from a natural experiment [Is public expenditure productive?]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(6), pages 1331-1357.
    4. repec:ces:ifodre:v:24:y:2016:i:04:p:29-33 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Matthias Huber & Till Nikolka & Panu Poutvaara & Ann-Marie Sommerfeld & Silke Uebelmesser, 2022. "Migration Aspirations and Intentions," CESifo Working Paper Series 9708, CESifo.
    6. Audretsch, David B. & Dohse, Dirk & dos Santos, João Pereira, 2017. "Do toll-free highways foster firm formation and employment growth? Results from a quasi-natural experiment," Kiel Working Papers 2080, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Viktor Slavtchev & Michael Wyrwich, 2017. "TV and Entrepreneurship," Jena Economics Research Papers 2017-007, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    8. Leonardo Mazzoni & Massimo Riccaboni & Erik Stam, 2024. "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Interregional Flows of Entrepreneurial Talent," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2426, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2024.
    9. Oliver Falck & Stefanie Gäbler, 2016. "Einfluss der Sozialisierung im Schulalter auf das Unternehmertum," ifo Dresden berichtet, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 23(04), pages 29-33, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurship; socialism; formal education; informal education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • P30 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - General

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