Thesis Type:

PhD Dissertation Chapter

Abstract:

This project uses gender and sibling dynamics to explore the intergenerational transmission of entrepreneurship.  I find that the transmission of self-employment from fathers to daughters is significantly reduced when there are sons in the family.  I interpret this as evidence that the intergenerational transmission of entrepreneurship is driven at least in part by costly investments by parents, which can be crowded out by brothers.  I investigate specific types of parental investments – transfers of money, businesses, and human capital – that potentially underlie this transmission and conclude that sons crowd out human capital acquisition by daughters.  If all daughters of self-employed men experienced the “sisters-only” level of transmission, the overall gender gap in self-employment would be reduced by nearly 20 percent.