Experimenting with Entrepreneurship: The Effect of Job-Protected Leave
Published By: NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH on eSS | Published Date: July , 2016This paper studies whether potential entrepreneurs remain in wage employment because of the danger that they will face worse job opportunities should their entrepreneurial ventures fail? Using a Canadian reform that extended job-protected leave to one year for women giving birth after a cut-off date, it studies whether the option to return to a previous job increases entrepreneurship. The results are driven by more educated entrepreneurs, starting firms that survive at least five years and hire paid employees, in industries where experimentation is more valuable. [Working Paper 22446]
Author(s): Joshua Gottlieb, Richard Townsend, Ting Xu | Posted on: Jul 28, 2016 | Views()