という主旨の論文（WP）をUDADISIが紹介している。論文のタイトルは「Smart and Illicit: Who Becomes an Entrepreneur and Does it Pay?」で、著者はUCバークレーのRoss LevineとLSEのYona Rubinstein*1。
以下はその要旨。
We disaggregate the self-employed into incorporated and unincorporated to distinguish between “entrepreneurs” and other business owners. The incorporated self-employed have a distinct combination of cognitive, noncognitive, and family traits. Besides coming from higher-income families with better-educated mothers, the incorporated—as teenagers—scored higher on learning aptitude tests, had greater self-esteem, and engaged in more aggressive, illicit, risk-taking activities. The combination of “smarts” and “aggressive/illicit/risk-taking” tendencies as a youth accounts for both entry into entrepreneurship and the comparative earnings of entrepreneurs. In contrast to a large literature, we also find that entrepreneurs earn much more per hour than their salaried counterparts.
（拙訳）
我々は「起業家」と他の事業主を区別するため、自営業者を法人と非法人に分類した。法人の自営業者は、計測可能および不可能な能力*2と出身家庭について明確な特徴を有していた。法人の自営業者は、教育程度の高い母親のいる高所得家庭の出身であるほか、十代の時期に学習能力テストで優れた成績を収め、自尊心が高く、積極的かつ違法かつリスクを取る活動に従事していた。若い時の「賢さ」と「積極的／違法／リスクを取る」傾向の組み合わせは、起業家になることと起業家としての所得の高さを共に説明する。我々はまた、多くの研究とは対照的に、起業家は時間当たり所得が被雇用者よりも相当高いことを見い出した*3。
*1:UDADISIがLevine & Rubinsteinとして紹介していたので一瞬David LevineとAriel Rubinsteinかと期待してしまった…。
*2:こちらのサイトではcognitiveとnoncognitiveについて「Non-cognitive skills are any skills that are not cognitive, such as memory, attention, planning, language and thinking skills. Non-cognitive skills include emotional maturity, empathy, interpersonal skills and verbal and non-verbal communication. Non-cognitive skills influence the overall behavior of a person. For example, a nurse who is able to to easily comfort patients has non-cognitive skills.／Non-cognitive skills are often not measurable, unlike cognitive skills, which educators can measure objectively with tests.」と説明されている。
*3:この点についてWPの結論部では以下のように記述されている：
Research raises puzzling questions about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. Although profit-motivated, risk-taking entrepreneurs play leading roles in theories of technological innovation and economic growth, researchers find that the median self-employed person earns less than his salaried counterpart, while having comparable cognitive and noncognitive traits. Why do people become entrepreneurs if they earn less money? Do entrepreneurs really have the same traits as salaried employees?
Dividing the self-employed into the incorporated and unincorporated resolves these puzzles and yields the following insights into entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. First, the incorporated self-employed earn much more per hour, and work many more hours, than their salaried and unincorporated counterparts, and the unincorporated earn much less per hour than comparable salaried workers. This helps account for the earlier puzzle: the incorporated earn more than salaried workers, the unincorporated earn less, and there are more unincorporated than incorporated self-employed.
