6 - Entrepreneurial culture
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2011
Summary
Introduction
The rationale for including a chapter on entrepreneurship can perhaps best be illustrated by the following quote from one of the authors of this book:
“For a couple of years I have been teaching a course on industrial economics that was attended by both continental European students and students from the United States. Every year, when I discussed the economics of entrepreneurship I posed my students the same question, which was: ‘Suppose you had to hire someone for your firm, and you had the choice between two individuals who are completely identical except for one aspect: person A had started his own firm, but this venture turned out to be unsuccessful, and he had to close it within a year, and is now looking for a new job, and person B who did not start his own firm. Whom would you hire?’ Interestingly enough, I got the same pattern of answers every single year. Whereas the students from the United States would choose person A because he had shown initiative, the European students would pick person B, because person A had clearly failed.”
This phenomenon is not unique and has been observed by others. At a more scientific level, Grilo and Thurik (2006) use Eurobarometer survey data for twenty-five EU countries and the US in 2004, and while controlling for individual-level differences, they show that European citizens have a lower preference for self-employment compared with US citizens.
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- Culture in EconomicsHistory, Methodological Reflections and Contemporary Applications, pp. 155 - 180Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010