Liquidity, Risk, and Occupational Choices

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bianchi, Milo; Bobba, Matteo
• 署名单位: Universite PSL; Universite Paris-Dauphine; Inter-American Development Bank
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rds031
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 491-511
• 关键词: technology adoption; Cash transfers; poverty traps; insurance; GROWTH; credit

摘要

We explore which financial constraints matter most in the choice of becoming an entrepreneur. We consider a randomly assigned welfare programme in rural Mexico and show that cash transfers significantly increase entry into entrepreneurship. We then exploit cross-household variation in the timing of these transfers and find that current occupational choices are significantly more responsive to the transfers expected for the future than to those currently received. Guided by a simple occupational choice model, we argue that the programme has promoted entrepreneurship by enhancing willingness to bear risk as opposed to simply relaxing current liquidity constraints.