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Entrepreneurship and the Discipline of External Finance

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  • Ramana Nanda

    (Harvard Business School, Entrepreneurial Management Unit)

Abstract

I confirm the finding that the propensity to start a new firm rises sharply among those in the top five percentiles of personal wealth. This pattern is more pronounced for entrants in less capital intensive sectors. Prior to entry, founders in this group earn about 6% less compared to those who stay in paid employment. Their firms are more likely to fail early and conditional on survival, less likely to be make money. This pattern is only true for the most-wealthy individuals, and is attenuated for wealthy individuals starting firms in capital intensive industries. Taken together, these findings suggest that the spike in entry at the top end of the wealth distribution is driven by low-ability individuals who can afford to start (and sometimes continue running) weaker firms because they do not face the discipline of external finance.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramana Nanda, 2010. "Entrepreneurship and the Discipline of External Finance," Harvard Business School Working Papers 11-098, Harvard Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:hbs:wpaper:11-098
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Scott Morton, Fiona M & Podolny, Joel M, 2002. "Love or Money? The Effects of Owner Motivation in the California Wine Industry," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 431-456, December.
    2. Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Joulfaian, David & Rosen, Harvey S, 1994. "Sticking It Out: Entrepreneurial Survival and Liquidity Constraints," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(1), pages 53-75, February.
    3. Kihlstrom, Richard E & Laffont, Jean-Jacques, 1979. "A General Equilibrium Entrepreneurial Theory of Firm Formation Based on Risk Aversion," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(4), pages 719-748, August.
    4. Fiona M. Scott Morton & Joel M. Podolny, 2002. "Love or Money? The Effects of Owner Motivation in the California Wine Industry," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 431-456, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kerr, William R. & Nanda, Ramana, 2009. "Democratizing entry: Banking deregulations, financing constraints, and entrepreneurship," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 124-149, October.
    2. Frijters, Paul & Kong, Tao Sherry & Meng, Xin, 2011. "Migrant Entrepreneurs and Credit Constraints under Labour Market Discrimination," IZA Discussion Papers 5967, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Edward L. Glaeser & William R. Kerr & Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto, 2010. "Clusters of Entrepreneurship," NBER Chapters, in: Cities and Entrepreneurship, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Bergner, Sören Martin & Bräutigam, Rainer & Evers, Maria Theresia & Spengel, Christoph, 2017. "The use of SME tax incentives in the European Union," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-006, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Felipe Balmaceda, 2018. "Entrepreneurship: skills and financing," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 871-886, April.
    6. Nanda, Ramana & Rhodes-Kropf, Matthew, 2013. "Investment cycles and startup innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(2), pages 403-418.
    7. Steffen Andersen & Kasper Meisner Nielsen, 2012. "Ability or Finances as Constraints on Entrepreneurship? Evidence from Survival Rates in a Natural Experiment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(12), pages 3684-3710.
    8. Semih Tumen, 2017. "Entrepreneurship in the shadows," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 25(2), pages 239-269, April.

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    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)

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