TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Dawson, Christopher
AU  - Meza, David Emmanuel de
AU  - Henley, Andrew
AU  - Arabsheibani, Reza
        TI  - Entrepreneurship: Cause or Consequence of Financial Optimism?
        PY  - 2012/Sep/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 6844
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp6844
        AB  - 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.
        KW  - financial optimism
KW  - expectations
KW  - self-employment
        ER  -