Discussion Papers

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18442

Does AI Cheapen Talk? Theory and Evidence From Global Entrepreneurship and Hiring

Bo Cowgill, Pablo Hernandez-Lagos, Nataliya Langburd Wright

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18245

Evaluators’ Masculine Gender Identity May Drive Gender Biases in Peer Evaluation of Business Plans

Magdalena Adamus, Martin Guzi, Eva Ballová Mikušková

published in: Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 2025, 102473.

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18160

A Tale of Two Startups: The Loss and Gain of Startups in the U.S. Economy in the Pandemic

Robert W. Fairlie, Frank M. Fossen, Ke Lyu

revised version published in: Small Business Economics, 2026, 66, 1665-1672, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01171-7

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18143

AI Business Applications Training and Business Outcomes: An Inclusive Intervention for Underrepresented Entrepreneurs

Nick Drydakis

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17655

Workers' Job Prospects and Young Firm Dynamics

Seula Kim

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17123

Beyond Borders: Do Gender Norms and Institutions Affect Female Businesses?

Holger Görg, Ina C. Jäkel

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16930

Long-Term Effects of Shocks on New Opportunity and Necessity Entrepreneurship

Emilio Congregado, Frank M. Fossen, Nicola Rubino, David Troncoso

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16443

Divergent Thinking and Post-Launch Entrepreneurial Outcomes: Non-Linearities and the Moderating Role of Experience

Marco Caliendo, Daniel Rodriguez

published in: Small Business Economics, 2024, 62, 1523-1553

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16122

Labour Costs and the Decision to Hire the First Employee

Bart Cockx, Sam Desiere

published in: European Economic Review, 2024, 170, 104859

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15946

State-Based Conflict and Entrepreneurship: Empirical Evidence

Wim Naudé, Ernesto Amorós, Tilman Brück

published in: W. Naudé and B. Power, Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship and Conflict, Edward Elgar, 2024, 106–140

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15848

Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Performance of Start-Ups

Marco Caliendo, Alexander S. Kritikos, Daniel Rodriguez, Claudia Stier

published in: Small Business Economics, 2023, 61, 1027–1051

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15690

Microentrepreneurs' Gender Difference in Labor Demand

Oluwasheyi S. Oladipo, Hyoung Suk Shim

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15014

Firm Pay Dynamics

Niklas Engbom, Christian Moser, Jan Sauermann

published in: Journal of Econometrics, 2023, 233 (1), 396 - 423

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14535

Self-Employment in Rural China: Its Development, Characteristics, and Relation to Income

Björn Anders Gustafsson, Yudan Zhang

published in: China & World Economy, 2022, 30 (1), 136-165

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13835

Extreme Events, Entrepreneurial Start-Ups, and Innovation: Theoretical Conjectures

Thomas Gries, Wim Naudé

published in: Economics of Disaster and Climate Change, 2021, 5, 329–353

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13667

Digital Entrepreneurship Research: A Concise Introduction

Wim Naudé, Werner Liebregts

published as 'Digital Entrepreneurship' in: Liebregts, W., van den Heuvel, WJ., van den Born, A. (eds), Data Science for Entrepreneurship. Classroom Companion: Business. Springer, Cham, 2023, 279-303

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13436

Entrepreneurial Recovery from COVID-19: Decentralization, Democratization, Demand, Distribution, and Demography

Wim Naudé

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13390

Does Emigration Drain Entrepreneurs?

Massimo Anelli, Gaetano Basso, Giuseppe Ippedico, Giovanni Peri

published as 'Emigration and Entrepreneurial Drain' in: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2023, 15 (2), 218–252

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13173

Tenancy by the Entirety and the Value of Wealth Insurance for Entrepreneurs

Jeffrey Traczynski

published in: Journal of Law, Finance and Accounting, 2020, 5 (2), 337 - 359

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12690

Catching up or Lagging Behind? The Long-Term Business and Innovation Potential of Subsidized Start-Ups out of Unemployment

Marco Caliendo, Steffen Künn, Martin Weissenberger

published in: Research Policy, 2020, 49 (10), 1-14

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12607

Entrepreneurial Persistence beyond Survival: Measurement and Determinants

Marco Caliendo, Maximilian Göthner, Martin Weißenberger

published in: Journal of Small Business Management, 2020, 58 (3), 617-647.

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12499

Entrepreneurship over the Business Cycle in the United States: A Decomposition

Frank M. Fossen

revised version published in: Small Business Economics, 2021, 57, 1837-1855

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12325

The Impact of Soft-Skills Training for Entrepreneurs in Jamaica

Diego Ubfal, Irani Arraiz, Diether Beuermann, Michael Frese, Alessandro Maffioli, Daniel Verch

published in: World Development, 2022, 152, 105787

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12189

Transitioning from Solo Self-Employed to Microbusiness Employer: Local Economic Environment or Owner Characteristics?

Andrew Henley

IZA Discussion Paper No. 11650

Skills, Scope, and Success: An Empirical Look at the Start-up Process in Creative Industries in Germany

Karsten Kohn, Solvejg A. Wewel

published in: Creativity and Innovation Management, 2018, 27 (3), 295-318

IZA Discussion Paper No. 11195

Cities and Entrepreneurs over Time: Like a Horse and Carriage?

Wim Naudé

revised version published as 'Urbanisation and Entrepreneurship in Development: Like a Horse and Carriage? 'in: Dastbaz,M., Naudé, W. and Manoochehri, J. (eds.), Smart Futures, Challenges of Urbanisation, and Social Sustainability, Springer, 2018, 29 - 47

IZA Discussion Paper No. 11155

How Does Firm Survival Differ between Business Takeovers and New Venture Start-ups?

Guoqian Xi, Jörn Block, Frank Lasch, Frank Robert, Roy Thurik

published as 'The survival of business takeovers and new venture start-ups' in: Industrial and Corporate Change, 2020, 29 (3), 797 - 826

IZA Discussion Paper No. 9984

Gendered Entrepreneurship Networks

Simen Markussen, Knut Røed

revised version published as 'The Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship - The Role of Peer Effects' in: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2017, 134, 356-373

IZA Discussion Paper No. 9919

Entrepreneurial Choices of Initial Human Capital Endowments and New Venture Success

Vera Rocha, Mirjam C. van Praag, Timothy B. Folta, Anabela Carneiro

IZA Discussion Paper No. 9817

Is European Entrepreneurship in Crisis?

Wim Naudé

IZA Discussion Paper No. 9806

Size of Training Firms: The Role of Firms, Luck, and Ability in Young Workers' Careers

Steffen Müller, Renate Neubäumer

published in: International Journal of Manpower, 2018, 39 (5), 658-673

IZA Discussion Paper No. 9744

The Entrepreneurship Beveridge Curve

Thomas Gries, Stefan Jungblut, Wim Naudé

published in: International Journal of Economic Theory, 2016, 12 (2), 151-165

IZA Discussion Paper No. 9521

Entrepreneurship and the Reallocation of African Farmers

Wim Naudé

IZA Discussion Paper No. 9242

The Power of (Non) Positive Thinking: Self-Employed Pessimists Earn More than Optimists

Christopher Dawson, David Emmanuel de Meza, Andrew Henley, Reza Arabsheibani

published as 'Curb your enthusiasm: Optimistic entrepreneurs earn less' in: European Economic Review, 2019, 111, 53 - 69

IZA Discussion Paper No. 9232

The Post Crisis Growth in the Self-Employed: Volunteers or Reluctant Recruits?

Andrew Henley

published in: Regional Studies, 2017, 51, 1312 - 1323

IZA Discussion Paper No. 8981

The Rise of Female Entrepreneurs: New Evidence on Gender Differences in Liquidity Constraints

Robert M. Sauer, Tanya Wilson

published in: European Economic Review, 2016, 86, 73-86

IZA Discussion Paper No. 8577

Risk, Uncertainty and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from a Lab-in-the-Field Experiment

Martin Koudstaal, Randolph Sloof, Mirjam C. van Praag

published in: Management Science, 2016, 62 (10), 2897 - 2915

IZA Discussion Paper No. 8564

Young Entrepreneurs in Rural Africa: Prevalence, Determinants, Productivity

Paula Nagler, Wim Naudé

IZA Discussion Paper No. 8524

Labor Productivity in Rural African Enterprises: Empirical Evidence from the LSMS-ISA

Paula Nagler, Wim Naudé

IZA Discussion Paper No. 8295

Non-Farm Enterprise Productivity and Spatial Autocorrelation in Rural Africa: Evidence from Ethiopia and Nigeria

Nkechi S. Owoo, Wim Naudé

published as 'Spatial proximity and firm performance: evidence from non-farm rural enterprises in Ethiopia and Nigeria' in: Regional Studies, 2016, 51 (5), 688–700

IZA Discussion Paper No. 8237

Jacks-of-All-Trades? The Effect of Balanced Skills on Team Performance

Laura Rosendahl Huber, Randolph Sloof, Mirjam C. van Praag

IZA Discussion Paper No. 8111

Is Religion Associated with Entrepreneurial Activity?

Andrew Henley

published as 'Does Religion Influence Entrepreneurial Behaviour?' in: International Small Business Journal, 2017, 35 (5), 597 - 617

IZA Discussion Paper No. 8008

Non-Farm Entrepreneurship in Rural Africa: Patterns and Determinants

Paula Nagler, Wim Naudé

published as 'Non-farm entrepreneurship in rural sub-Saharan Africa: New empirical evidence' in: Food Policy, 2017, 67, 175-191

IZA Discussion Paper No. 7889

Skill Variety, Innovation and New Business Formation

Jolanda Hessels, Udo Brixy, Wim Naudé, Thomas Gries

IZA Discussion Paper No. 7796

Foreign Direct Investment and Domestic Entrepreneurship: Blessing or Curse?

Seçil Hülya Danakol, Saul Estrin, Paul Reynolds, Utz Weitzel

published as 'Foreign direct investment via M&A and domestic entrepreneurship: blessing or curse?' in: Small Business Economics, 2017, 48 (3), 599 - 612

IZA Discussion Paper No. 7669

Immigration and Entrepreneurship

Robert W. Fairlie, Magnus Lofstrom

published in: Barry Chiswick and Paul Miller (eds.), Handbook on the Economics of International Immigration, 1B, Elsevier, 2015

IZA Discussion Paper No. 7653

The Wider Economic Impacts of High-Skilled Migrants: A Survey of the Literature

Max Nathan

published in: IZA Journal of Migration 2014, 3:4

IZA Discussion Paper No. 7547

'Romanticizing Penniless Entrepreneurs?' The Relationship between Start-Ups and Human Wellbeing across Countries

Wim Naudé, José Ernesto Amorós, Oscar Cristi

published as 'Should We Romanticize Penniless Entrepreneurs?: Startups and Human Wellbeing across Countries' in: Academy of Management Proceedings, 2012, 1, 15914

IZA Discussion Paper No. 7542

Survival of Spinoffs and Other Startups: First Evidence for the Private Sector in Germany, 1976-2008

Daniel Fackler, Claus Schnabel

substantially revised version published as 'Spinoffs in Germany: Characteristics, Survival, and the Role of their Parents', in: Small Business Economics, 2016, 46 (1), 93-114 ( co-authored by Alexandra Schmucker,)

IZA Discussion Paper No. 7507

Entrepreneurship and Economic Development: Theory, Evidence and Policy

Wim Naudé