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Entrepreneurship: Cause or Consequence of Financial Optimism?

Author

Listed:
  • Dawson, Christopher

    (University of Bath)

  • de Meza, David Emmanuel

    (London School of Economics)

  • Henley, Andrew

    (Cardiff University)

  • Arabsheibani, Reza

    (London School of Economics)

Abstract

Extant evidence that the self-employed overestimate their returns by more than employees do is consistent with two mutually inclusive possibilities. Self-employment may generate optimism or optimists may be drawn to self-employment. This paper finds that employees who will be self-employed in the future overestimate their short-run financial wellbeing by more than those who never become self-employed. When actually self-employed they are even more optimistic. Employees aspiring to start their own business are also of above average optimism. Cross-sectional findings are therefore an amalgam of psychological disposition and environmental factors, as theory requires if optimism is to be a causal influence on entrepreneurship.

Suggested Citation

  • Dawson, Christopher & de Meza, David Emmanuel & Henley, Andrew & Arabsheibani, Reza, 2012. "Entrepreneurship: Cause or Consequence of Financial Optimism?," IZA Discussion Papers 6844, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6844
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Salima TAKTAK & Mohamed Ali AZOUZI & Mohamed TRIKI, 2013. "Why Entrepreneur Overconfidence Affect Its Project Financial Capability: Evidence From Tunisia Using The Bayesian Network Method," Business Excellence and Management, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 3(2), pages 61-84, June.
    3. Jean-Christophe Poutineau & Gauthier Vermandel, 2015. "Quelle prise en compte des caractéristiques nationales dans les mesures macroprudentielles en zone euro ?," Revue française d'économie, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(3), pages 95-141.
    4. Dawson, Christopher & de Meza, David Emmanuel & Henley, Andrew & Arabsheibani, Reza, 2015. "The Power of (Non) Positive Thinking: Self-Employed Pessimists Earn More than Optimists," IZA Discussion Papers 9242, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Martin G.A. Svensson, 2015. "When being wrong might be right: on overconfidence as an evolutionary mechanism of nascent entrepreneurs," Chapters, in: Charlie Karlsson & Urban Gråsjö & Sofia Wixe (ed.), Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Global Economy, chapter 10, pages 237-258, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. William D. Bradford, 2014. "The “Myth†That Black Entrepreneurship Can Reduce the Gap in Wealth Between Black and White Families," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 28(3), pages 254-269, August.
    7. Ross Levine & Yona Rubinstein, 2017. "Smart and Illicit: Who Becomes an Entrepreneur and Do They Earn More?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 963-1018.
    8. Martin Koudstaal & Randolph Sloof & Mirjam van Praag, 2015. "Are Entrepreneurs more Optimistic and Overconfident than Managers and Employees?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 15-124/VII, Tinbergen Institute.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

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