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Irrational exuberance, entrepreneurial finance and public policy

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  • Coelho, Marta
  • de Meza, David
  • Reyniers, Diane J.

Abstract

Unrealistic optimism is a well documented phenomenon. This paper argues that it is important in many economic contexts. Focusing on start-up finance for businesses, optimism may be responsible for or consistent with features such as credit rationing or redlining that are normally taken as symptoms of under-provision of finance requiring intervention to expand lending. Optimism leads to the opposite conclusion, at least if it is legitimate to use fiscal policy to counteract systematic error. The paper reports on an experiment in which, due to optimism, the lower the prizes to entrepreneurial activity the higher the subject's expected income.

Suggested Citation

  • Coelho, Marta & de Meza, David & Reyniers, Diane J., 2004. "Irrational exuberance, entrepreneurial finance and public policy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 17279, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:17279
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    Cited by:

    1. Vesa Kanniainen & Panu Poutvaara, 2007. "Imperfect Transmission of Tacit Knowledge and other Barriers to Entrepreneurship," CESifo Working Paper Series 2053, CESifo.
    2. Dai, Na & Ivanov, Vladimir & Cole, Rebel A., 2017. "Entrepreneurial optimism, credit availability, and cost of financing: Evidence from U.S. small businesses," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 289-307.
    3. Puri, Manju & Robinson, David T., 2007. "Optimism and economic choice," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 71-99, October.
    4. Karel Janda, 2006. "Lender and Borrower as Principal and Agent," Working Papers IES 2006/24, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Jul 2006.
    5. Hyytinen, Ari & Pajarinen, Mika, 2005. "Why Are All New Entrepreneurs Better Than Average? Evidence from Subjective Failure Rate Expectations," Discussion Papers 987, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    6. Vesa Kanniainen & Seppo Kari & Jouko Ylä-Liedenpohja, 2005. "The Start-Up and Growth Stages in Enterprise Formation: The “New View” of Dividend Taxation Reconsidered," CESifo Working Paper Series 1476, CESifo.
    7. Linda Bergset, 2015. "The Rationality and Irrationality of Financing Green Start-Ups," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-26, November.
    8. Enrico Santarelli & Marco Vivarelli, 2007. "Entrepreneurship and the process of firms’ entry, survival and growth," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(3), pages 455-488, June.
    9. Werner Hölzl & Peter Huber & Serguei Kaniovski & Michael Peneder, 2006. "Teilstudie 20: Neugründung und Entwicklung von Unternehmen," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 27459, February.
    10. Kenneth L. Simons & Thomas Åstebro, 2010. "Entrepreneurs Seeking Gains: Profit Motives and Risk Aversion in Inventors’ Commercialization Decisions," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 863-888, December.
    11. Wim Naudé, 2008. "Entrepreneurship in Economic Development," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-20, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Stefanescu, Răzvan & Dumitriu, Ramona, 2016. "Planificarea financiarǎ pentru decizii asupra antreprenoriatului - Partea întâi [Financial planning for decisions on entrepreneurship, Part I]," MPRA Paper 74829, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 30 Oct 2016.
    13. Karel Janda, 2006. "Agency Theory Approach to the Contracting between Lender and Borrower [Smluvní vztah mezi věřitelem a dlužníkem z hlediska přístupu teorie zastoupení]," Acta Oeconomica Pragensia, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2006(3), pages 34-47.
    14. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2012_020 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Parker, Simon C., 2013. "Do serial entrepreneurs run successively better-performing businesses?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 652-666.
    16. Vesa Kanniainen & Seppo Kari & Jouko Ylä-Liedenpohja, 2007. "Nordic dual income taxation of entrepreneurs," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 14(4), pages 407-426, August.
    17. Hyytinen, Ari & Lahtonen, Jukka & Pajarinen, Mika, 2012. "Entrepreneurial optimism and survival," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 20/2012, Bank of Finland.
    18. Marco Vivarelli, 2012. "Entrepreneurship and Post-Entry Performance: the Microeconomic Evidence," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali dises1286, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    19. Marco Vivarelli, 2013. "Is entrepreneurship necessarily good? Microeconomic evidence from developed and developing countries," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(6), pages 1453-1495, December.
    20. Vivarelli, Marco, 2012. "Drivers of entrepreneurship and post-entry performance : microeconomic evidence from advanced and developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6245, The World Bank.
    21. Vivarelli, Marco, 2012. "Entrepreneurship in Advanced and Developing Countries: A Microeconomic Perspective," IZA Discussion Papers 6513, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    22. Stephen Weymouth & J. Lawrence Broz, 2013. "Government Partisanship and Property Rights: Cross-Country Firm-Level Evidence," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 229-256, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    unrealistic optimism; finance; policy; experiments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook

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