IZA Discussion Papers

forthcoming in: V. Aranitou, A. Angelakis, and M. Manioudis (eds), The Economic Impact of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Analytical Approaches to Growth and Innovation Challenges Amid Crises in Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2025

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17321

Business Disruptions Due to Social Vulnerability and Criminal Activities in Urban Areas

Nick Drydakis

published in: Journal of Criminal Justice, 2024, 95, 102293

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17281

Aggregate Implications of Barriers to Female Entrepreneurship

Gaurav Chiplunkar, Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17231

Entrepreneurs: Clueless, Biased, Poor Heuristics, or Bayesian Machines?

Thomas B. Astebro, Frank M. Fossen, Cédric Gutierrez

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17231

Entrepreneurs: Clueless, Biased, Poor Heuristics, or Bayesian Machines?

Thomas B. Astebro, Frank M. Fossen, Cédric Gutierrez

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17170

The Long Run Gender Origins of Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Australia's Convict History

Sefa Awaworyi Churchill, Simon Chang, Russell Smyth, Trong-Anh Trinh

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17158

Entrepreneurship Is Dangerously Obsessed with Growth and Incompatible with Current Visions of a Post-growth Society

Wim Naudé

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17075

The African Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Index: Conceptual, Methodological and Empirical Flaws and the Way Forward

Wim Naudé

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17055

Artificial Intelligence and Entrepreneurship

Frank M. Fossen, Trevor McLemore, Alina Sorgner

published in: Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship, 2024, 20 (8), 781-904

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17055

Artificial Intelligence and Entrepreneurship

Frank M. Fossen, Trevor McLemore, Alina Sorgner

published in: Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship, 2024, 20 (8), 781-904

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17055

Artificial Intelligence and Entrepreneurship

Frank M. Fossen, Trevor McLemore, Alina Sorgner

published in: Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship, 2024, 20 (8), 781-904

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17055

Artificial Intelligence and Entrepreneurship

Frank M. Fossen, Trevor McLemore, Alina Sorgner

published in: Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship, 2024, 20 (8), 781-904

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16950

What Works in Supporting Women-Led Businesses?

Diego Ubfal

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. 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. 16916

Is the Scholarly Field of Entrepreneurship at Its End?

Wim Naudé

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16683

Income Taxation and Hours Worked in Different Types of Entrepreneurship

Ege Can, Frank M. Fossen

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16679

Access to Digital Finance: Equity Crowdfunding across Countries and Platforms

Saul Estrin, Susanna Khavul, Alexander S. Kritikos, Jonas Löher

published in: PLoS ONE, 2024, 19 (1), e0293292.

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16662

Capital Markets, Temporary Migration and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Bangladesh

Laurent Bossavie, Joseph-Simon Goerlach, Çağlar Özden, He Wang

published in: World Development, 2024, 176, 106505

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16534

Are Senior Entrepreneurs Happier than Who? The Role of Income and Health

Michael Fritsch, Alina Sorgner, Michael Wyrwich

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16489

Unintended Consequences of Youth Entrepreneurship Programs: Experimental Evidence from Rwanda

Moussa Blimpo, Todd Pugatch

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16487

Bottom-up Policies Trump Top-down Missions

Magnus Henrekson, Mikael Stenkula

published in: Magnus Henrekson, Christian Sandström, and Mikael Stenkula (eds.), Moonshots and the New Industrial Policy, Cham: Springer, 2024, 309–331

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16483

Destructive Digital Entrepreneurship

Wim Naudé

published in: W. Naudé and B. Power (eds.), Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship and Conflict, Elgar, 2024, 292–328

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16412

The Impacts of COVID-19 on Racial Inequality in Business Earnings

Robert W. Fairlie

published in: Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2024, 43 (1), 258 - 288

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16408

Is Productive Entrepreneurship Getting Scarcer? A Reflection on the Contemporary Relevance of Baumol's Typology

Maria Minniti, Wim Naudé, Erik Stam

published in: W. Naudé and B. Power (eds.), Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship and Conflict, Elgar, 2024, 18 - 44

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16319

Air Pollution and Entrepreneurship

Liwen Guo, Zhiming Cheng, Massimiliano Tani, Sarah Cook, Jiaqi Zhao, Xi Chen

published in: China Economic Review, 2025, 89, 102327

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16201

COVID-19 and Entrepreneurship

Alina Sorgner

published in: Zimmermann, K.F. (ed.) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham., 2023.

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16145

Prior Work Experience and Entrepreneurship: The Careers of Young Entrepreneurs

Nicolas Gendron-Carrier

forthcoming in: Journal of Labor Economics

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. 15903

Globalization and Firm Performance

Luis A. V. Catão, Pedro de Faria, António Martins, Miguel Portela

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. 15793

The Influence of Start-up Motivation on Entrepreneurial Performance

Marco Caliendo, Alexander S. Kritikos, Claudia Stier

published in: Small Business Economics, 2023, 61, 869-889.

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15690

Microentrepreneurs' Gender Difference in Labor Demand

Oluwasheyi S. Oladipo, Hyoung Suk Shim

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15608

German Financial State Aid during COVID-19 Pandemic: Higher Impact among Digitalized Self-Employed

Irene Bertschek, Jörn Block, Alexander S. Kritikos, Caroline Stiel

published in: Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 2024, 36 (1–2), 76–97

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15607

The Ossified Economy: The Case of Germany, 1870-2020

Wim Naudé, Paula Nagler

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15526

COVID-19 and Entrepreneurship Entry and Exit: Opportunity Amidst Adversity

Vladimir Otrachshenko, Olga Popova, Milena Nikolova, Elena Tyurina

published in: Technology in Society, 2022, 71, 102093

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15445

Were Small Businesses More Likely to Permanently Close in the Pandemic?

Robert W. Fairlie, Frank M. Fossen, Reid Johnsen, Gentian Droboniku

revised version published in: Small Business Economics, 2023, 60, 1613-1629

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15344

Hybrid (Solo)Self-Employment and Upskilling: Is Online Platform Work a Path Towards Entrepreneurship?

Konstantinos Pouliakas, Antonio Ranieri

published in: W. Conen and E. Reuter (eds.), Research Handbook on Self-employment and Public Policy, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15216

Are Entrepreneurs Aware of Covered Interest Parity and Dollar Shortage?

Farhad Nariman, Almas Heshmati

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15064

Can Interactive Online Training Make High School Students More Entrepreneurial? Experimental Evidence from Rwanda

Jeanne Lafortune, Todd Pugatch, José Tessada, Diego Ubfal

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15037

Caste, Courts and Business

Tanika Chakraborty, Anirban Mukherjee, Sarani Saha, Divya Shukla

published in: Elsevier Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2023, 212, 333-365

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14941

Too Cold to Venture There? January Temperature and Immigrant Self-Employment across the United States

Jun Yeong Lee, John V. Winters

published in: Economic Development Quarterly, 2024, 38 (4), 249-270.

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14928

A Procedural Perspective on Academic Spin-off Creation: The Changing Relevance of Academic and Commercial Logics

Uwe Cantner, Philip Doerr, Maximilian Göthner, Matthias Huegel, Martin Kalthaus

published in: Small Business Economics, 2024, 62, 1555–1590

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14894

A Golden Opportunity: The Gold Rush, Entrepreneurship and Culture

Michael Stuetzer, Abel Brodeur, Martin Obschonka, David Audretsch, Peter J. Rentfrow, Jeff Potter, Samuel D. Gosling

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14891

The Cost of Health Insurance and Entry into Entrepreneurship

Frank M. Fossen, Mobarak Hossain, Sankar Mukhopadhyay, Peter Toth

revised version published online in: Small Business Economics, 9 May 2024

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14655

Does Education Enhance Entrepreneurship?

Kunwon Ahn, John V. Winters

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14586

Energy Poverty and Entrepreneurship

Zhiming Cheng, Massimiliano Tani, Haining Wang

published in: Energy Economics, 2021, 102, 105469

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14458

Calling Baumol: What Telephones Can Tell Us about the Allocation of Entrepreneurial Talent in the Face of Radical Institutional Changes

Alina Sorgner, Michael Wyrwich

revised version published in: Journal of Business Venturing, 2022, 37(5), 106246

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14310

Does Higher Education Make You More Entrepreneurial? Causal Evidence from China

Bin Huang, Massimiliano Tani, Yu Zhu

published in: Journal of Business Research, 2021, 135, 543-558.

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14216

Testing the Differential Impact of COVID-19 on Self-Employed Women and Men in the United Kingdom

Darja Reuschke, Andrew Henley, Elizabeth Daniel, Victoria Price

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14188

On Immigration and Native Entrepreneurship

Harriet Duleep, David A. Jaeger, Peter McHenry

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14154

The Rise and Fall of German Innovation

Wim Naudé, Paula Nagler

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13951

Risk Preference and Entrepreneurial Investment at the Top of the Wealth Distribution

Frank M. Fossen, Johannes König, Carsten Schröder

revised version published in: Empirical Economics, 2024, 66, 735–761

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13897

Talking Business: New Evidence on How Language Shapes Economic Behaviour

Francesco Campo, Luca Nunziata, Lorenzo Rocco

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13875

Export-Led Growth after COVID-19: The Case of Portugal

Wim Naudé, Martin Cameron

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13854

Finance, Gender, and Entrepreneurship: India's Informal Sector Firms

Ira N. Gang, Rajesh Raj Natarajan, Kunal Sen

published in: Journal of Development Studies, 2022, 58 (7), 1383-1402

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. 13773

Why Are Africa's Female Entrepreneurs Not Playing the Export Game? Evidence from Ghana

Charles G. Ackah, Holger Görg, Aoife Hanley, Cecília Hornok

published as 'Africa’s Businesswomen – Underfunded or Underperforming?' in: Small Business Economics, 2024, 62 (3), 1051-1074

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13708

Access to Finance among Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Job Creation in Africa

Zuzana Brixiova Schwidrowski, Thierry Kangoye, Urbain Thierry Yogo

published in: Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 2020, 55, 177 - 189

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13707

The Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Owners: The First Three Months after Social-Distancing Restrictions

Robert W. Fairlie

published in: Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 2020, 29 (4), 727 - 740

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. 13634

Entrepreneurship Education and Teacher Training in Rwanda

Moussa Blimpo, Todd Pugatch

published in: Journal of Development Economics, 2021, 149, 102583

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13443

Initial Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Employment and Hours of Self-Employed Coupled and Single Workers by Gender and Parental Status

Charlene M. Kalenkoski, Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia

published as 'Impacts of COVID-19 on the Self-employed' in: Small Business Economics, 2022, 58, 741–768

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13436

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

Wim Naudé

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13414

The Effects of Non-Compete Agreements on Different Types of Self-Employment: Evidence from Massachusetts and Utah

Ege Can, Frank M. Fossen

revised version published as 'The Enforceability of Non-Compete Agreements and Different Types of Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Utah and Massachusetts' in: Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, 2022, 11 (2/3), 223-252

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. 13373

Allocating Subsidies for Private Investments to Maximize Jobs Impacts

David A. Robalino, Jose M. Romero, Ian Walker

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13311

The Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Owners: Evidence of Early-Stage Losses from the April 2020 Current Population Survey

Robert W. Fairlie

published as 'The impact of COVID-19 on small business owners: Evidence from the first three months after widespread social-distancing restrictions' in: Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 2020, 29 (4), 727-740

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13209

Entrepreneurship among Low-, Mid- and High-Income Workers in South America: A Fuzzy-Set Analysis

Jorge Velilla, José Alberto Molina, Raquel Ortega

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13187

The Perceived Well-Being and Health Costs of Exiting Self-Employment

Milena Nikolova, Boris Nikolaev, Olga Popova

published in: Small Business Economics, 2021, 57(4), 1819-1836

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13180

2D:4D and Self-Employment Using SOEP Data: A Replication Study

Frank M. Fossen, Levent Neyse, Magnus Johannesson, Anna Dreber Almenberg

revised version published in: Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 2022, 46 (1), 21-43

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. 13130

Exposure to Transit Migration, Public Attitudes and Entrepreneurship

Nicolas Ajzenman, Cevat Giray Aksoy, Sergei Guriev

revised version published in: Journal of Development Economics, 2022, 158, 102899

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12943

Microentrepreneurship in Developing Countries

Seema Jayachandran

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12878

Selection and Absolute Advantage in Farming and Entrepreneurship

Francisco Alvarez-Cuadrado, Francesco Amodio, Markus Poschke

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12848

Peer Networks and Entrepreneurship: A Pan-African RCT

Fernando Vega-Redondo, Paolo Pin, Diego Ubfal, Cristiana Benedetti-Fasil, Charles Brummitt, Gaia Rubera, Dirk Hovy, Tommaso Fornaciari

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12802

Endogenous Hours and the Wealth of Entrepreneurs

Felix Wellschmied, Emircan Yurdagul

published in: Review of Economic Dynamics, 2021, 39, 79-99

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12777

Training, Human Capital, and Gender Gaps in Entrepreneurial Performance

Zuzana Brixiova Schwidrowski, Thierry Kangoye, Mona Said

published in: Economic Modelling, 2020, 85, 367-380

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12761

Former Communist Party Membership and Present-Day Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe

Artjoms Ivlevs, Milena Nikolova, Olga Popova

published in: Small Business Economics, 2021, 57 (4), 1783-1800

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12742

What Makes an Employer?

Marco Caliendo, Frank M. Fossen, Alexander S. Kritikos

revised version published as 'Personality characteristics and the decision to hire' in: Industrial and Corporate Change, 2022, 31 (3), 736-761

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. 12678

Three Varieties of Africa’s Industrial Future

Wim Naudé

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. 12602

The Decline in Entrepreneurship in the West: Is Complexity Ossifying the Economy?

Wim Naudé

published as ' From the entrepreneurial to the ossified economy' in: Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2022, 46 (1), 105 - 131

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. 12445

Who Gains from Active Learning in Higher Education?

Giulio Bosio, Federica Origo

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12367

Wage Employment, Unemployment and Self-Employment across Countries

Markus Poschke

published online in: Journal of Monetary Economics, 12 September 2024, 103684

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12336

Types of Institutions and Well-Being of Self-Employed and Paid Employees in Europe

Michael Fritsch, Alina Sorgner, Michael Wyrwich

revised version published in: Small Business Economics, 2021, 56, 877–901

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. 12141

The Past and Future of Manufacturing in Central and Eastern Europe: Ready for Industry 4.0?

Wim Naudé, Aleksander Surdej, Martin Cameron

published as 'Ready for Industry 4.0? The Case of Central and Eastern Europe' in: Mohammad Dastbaz, Peter Cochrane (eds.), Industry 4.0 and Engineering for the Future, Springer International, 2019, 153-175

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12057

Risk Aversion and Entrepreneurship: New Evidence Exploiting Exposure to Massive Earthquakes in Italy

Guido de Blasio, Maria De Paola, Samuele Poy, Vincenzo Scoppa

published in: Small Business Economics, 2021, 57, 295-322

IZA Discussion Paper No. 12035

Firm Size and Innovation in the Service Sector

David Audretsch, Marian Hafenstein, Alexander S. Kritikos, Alexander Schiersch

published as 'Microfirms and innovation in the service sector' in: Small Business Economics, 2020, 55 (4), 997-1018

IZA Discussion Paper No. 11941

Brilliant Technologies and Brave Entrepreneurs: A New Narrative for African Manufacturing

Wim Naudé

published in: Journal of International Affairs, 2019, 72 (1), 143 - 158