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Selection into Entrepreneurship, Income Mobility and Firm Performance

Jarkko Harju et al.

Journal of Labor Economics2025https://doi.org/10.1086/740193article
AJG 4ABDC A*
Weight
0.37

Abstract

Using full-population data from Finland, we show that individuals at the top of the income distribution are significantly more likely to start new incorporated businesses. High-income earners also establish more successful and productive businesses than others. In contrast, parental income is not linked with selection into new entrepreneurship or firm-level outcomes. We find that income gains from entrepreneurship are rather similar across individual and parental characteristics, and that entrepreneurship is associated with upward income mobility regardless of initial income levels. Overall, our findings suggest that entrepreneurship can serve as an upward economic ladder for individuals from diverse backgrounds.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1086/740193

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@article{jarkko2025,
  title        = {{Selection into Entrepreneurship, Income Mobility and Firm Performance}},
  author       = {Jarkko Harju et al.},
  journal      = {Journal of Labor Economics},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1086/740193},
}

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Selection into Entrepreneurship, Income Mobility and Firm Performance

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Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.