Effects of cultural origin on entrepreneurship

This paper investigates the effects of cultural origin on entrepreneurship. Using Swedish registry data on second-generation immigrants and risk appetite measures from the Global Preference Survey (GPS), we investigate whether risk preferences in parents' home countries affect entrepreneurship. We find that children of immigrants from more risk-loving cultures are more likely to start up a business, although of poorer quality. We also find that entrepreneurs with parents from cultures with higher risk appetite earn a lower personal income. Our analysis demonstrates that culturally transmitted risk appetite has significant effects beyond individual and parental socioeconomic characteristics.