Does academic entrepreneurship pay?

Thomas Astebro (1) , Pontus Braunerhjelm (2) , Anders Broström (2)

1 GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC
2 Department of Industrial Economics and Management

We investigate the private returns for academics that start new businesses. Total earnings for the universe of 478 individuals working at Swedish universities who quit to become full-time entrepreneurs between 1999 and 2008 are compiled. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first analysis of entrepreneurial returns to include capital gains. Entrepreneurship for academics appears a gradual process and episodic. Earnings are similar before and after becoming an entrepreneur, and dividends and capital gains are inconsequential. But the income risk is more than three times higher in entrepreneurship.

Keywords: academic entrepreneurship

Domains: Strategy and business policy

Thomas Astebro, Pontus Braunerhjelm, Anders Broström. Does academic entrepreneurship pay?. Industrial and Corporate Change, 2013, 22 (1), pp.281-311. ⟨10.1093/icc/dts044⟩. ⟨hal-00786650⟩