@techreport{CaliendoRodriguezGuio2023, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Caliendo, Marco and Rodr{\´i}guez Guio, Daniel Felipe}, title = {Divergent thinking and post-launch entrepreneurial outcomes}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {68}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-60740}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-607408}, pages = {58}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Divergent thinking is the ability to produce numerous and diverse responses to questions or tasks, and it is used as a predictor of creative achievement. It plays a significant role in the business organization's innovation process and the recognition of new business opportunities. Drawing upon the cumulative process model of creativity in entrepreneurship, we hypothesize that divergent thinking has a lasting effect on post-launch entrepreneurial outcomes related to innovation and growth, but that this relation might not always be linear. Additionally, we hypothesize that domain-specific experience has a moderating role in this relation. We test our hypotheses based on a representative longitudinal sample of 457 German business founders, which we observe up until 40 months after start-up. We find strong relative effects for innovation and growth outcomes. For survival we find conclusive evidence for non-linearities in the effects of divergent thinking. Additionally, we show that such effects are moderated by the type of domain-specific experience that entrepreneurs gathered pre-launch, as it shapes the individual's ideational abilities to fit into more sophisticated strategies regarding entrepreneurial creative achievement. Our findings have relevant policy implications in characterizing and identifying business start-ups with growth and innovation potential, allowing a more efficient allocation of public and private funds.}, language = {en} } @techreport{CaliendoKritikosRodriguezetal.2023, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Caliendo, Marco and Kritikos, Alexander and Rodriguez, Daniel and Stier, Claudia}, title = {Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Performance of Start-Ups}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {61}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-57252}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-572527}, pages = {41}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Self-efficacy reflects the self-belief that one can persistently perform difficult and novel tasks while coping with adversity. As such beliefs reflect how individuals behave, think, and act, they are key for successful entrepreneurial activities. While existing literature mainly analyzes the influence of the task-related construct of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, we take a different perspective and investigate, based on a representative sample of 1,405 German business founders, how the personality characteristic of generalized self-efficacy influences start-up performance as measured by a broad set of business outcomes up to 19 months after business creation. Outcomes include start-up survival and entrepreneurial income, as well as growth-oriented outcomes such as job creation and innovation. We find statistically significant and economically important positive effects of high scores of self-efficacy on start-up survival and entrepreneurial income, which become even stronger when focusing on the growth-oriented outcome of innovation. Furthermore, we observe that generalized self-efficacy is similarly distributed between female and male business founders, with effects being partly stronger for female entrepreneurs. Our findings are important for policy instruments that are meant to support firm growth by facilitating the design of more target-oriented offers for training, coaching, and entrepreneurial incubators.}, language = {en} } @techreport{CaliendoKritikosStier2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Caliendo, Marco and Kritikos, Alexander and Stier, Claudia}, title = {The Influence of Start-up Motivation on Entrepreneurial Performance}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {59}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-57115}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-571152}, pages = {43}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Predicting entrepreneurial development based on individual and business-related characteristics is a key objective of entrepreneurship research. In this context, we investigate whether the motives of becoming an entrepreneur influence the subsequent entrepreneurial development. In our analysis, we examine a broad range of business outcomes including survival and income, as well as job creation, expansion and innovation activities for up to 40 months after business formation. Using self-determination theory as conceptual background, we aggregate the start-up motives into a continuous motivational index. We show - based on a unique dataset of German start-ups from unemployment and non-unemployment - that the later business performance is better, the higher they score on this index. Effects are particularly strong for growth oriented outcomes like innovation and expansion activities. In a next step, we examine three underlying motivational categories that we term opportunity, career ambition, and necessity. We show that individuals driven by opportunity motives perform better in terms of innovation and business expansion activities, while career ambition is positively associated with survival, income, and the probability of hiring employees. All effects are robust to the inclusion of a large battery of covariates that are proven to be important determinants of entrepreneurial performance.}, language = {en} } @techreport{CaliendoGraeberKritikosetal.2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Caliendo, Marco and Graeber, Daniel and Kritikos, Alexander and Seebauer, Johannes}, title = {Pandemic Depression: COVID-19 and the Mental Health of the Self-Employed}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {46}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-54899}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-548999}, pages = {65}, year = {2022}, abstract = {We investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-employed people's mental health. Using representative longitudinal survey data from Germany, we reveal differential effects by gender: whereas self-employed women experienced a substantial deterioration in their mental health, self-employed men displayed no significant changes up to early 2021. Financial losses are important in explaining these differences. In addition, we find larger mental health responses among self-employed women who were directly affected by government-imposed restrictions and bore an increased childcare burden due to school and daycare closures. We also find that self-employed individuals who are more resilient coped better with the crisis.}, language = {en} } @techreport{CaliendoCobbClarkPfeiferetal.2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Caliendo, Marco and Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. and Pfeifer, Harald and Uhlendorff, Arne and Wehner, Caroline}, title = {Managers' Risk Preferences and Firm Training Investments}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {44}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-53843}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-538439}, pages = {45}, year = {2022}, abstract = {We provide the first estimates of the impact of managers' risk preferences on their training allocation decisions. Our conceptual framework links managers' risk preferences to firms' training decisions through the bonuses they expect to receive. Risk-averse managers are expected to select workers with low turnover risk and invest in specific rather than general training. Empirical evidence supporting these predictions is provided using a novel vignette study embedded in a nationally representative survey of firm managers. Risk-tolerant and risk-averse decision makers have significantly different training preferences. Risk aversion results in increased sensitivity to turnover risk. Managers who are risk-averse offer significantly less general training and, in some cases, are more reluctant to train workers with a history of job mobility. All managers, irrespective of their risk preferences, are sensitive to the investment risk associated with training, avoiding training that is more costly or targets those with less occupational expertise or nearing retirement. This suggests the risks of training are primarily due to the risk that trained workers will leave the firm (turnover risk) rather than the risk that the benefits of training do not outweigh the costs (investment risk).}, language = {en} } @techreport{CaliendoKuennMahlstedt2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Caliendo, Marco and K{\"u}nn, Steffen and Mahlstedt, Robert}, title = {The Intended and Unintended Effects of Promoting Labor Market Mobility}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-53522}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-535229}, pages = {49}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Subsidizing the geographical mobility of unemployed workers may improve welfare by relaxing their financial constraints and allowing them to find jobs in more prosperous regions. We exploit regional variation in the promotion of mobility programs along administrative borders of German employment agency districts to investigate the causal effect of offering such financial incentives on the job search behavior and labor market integration of unemployed workers. We show that promoting mobility - as intended - causes job seekers to increase their search radius, apply for and accept distant jobs. At the same time, local job search is reduced with adverse consequences for reemployment and earnings. These unintended negative effects are provoked by spatial search frictions. Overall, the unconditional provision of mobility programs harms the welfare of unemployed job seekers.}, language = {en} } @techreport{CaliendoWittbrodt2021, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Caliendo, Marco and Wittbrodt, Linda}, title = {Did the Minimum Wage Reduce the Gender Wage Gap in Germany?}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {40}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-53046}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-530464}, pages = {26}, year = {2021}, abstract = {In many countries, women are over-represented among low-wage employees, which is why a wage floor could benefit them particularly. Following this notion, we analyse the impact of the German minimum wage introduction in 2015 on the gender wage gap. Germany poses an interesting case study in this context, since it has a rather high gender wage gap and set the minimum wage at a relatively high level, affecting more than four million employees. Based on individual data from the Structure of Earnings Survey, containing information for over one million employees working in 60,000 firms, we use a difference-in- difference framework that exploits regional differences in the bite of the minimum wage. We find a significant negative effect of the minimum wage on the regional gender wage gap. Between 2014 and 2018, the gap at the 10th percentile of the wage distribution was reduced by 4.6 percentage points (or 32\%) in regions that were strongly affected by the minimum wage compared to less affected regions. For the gap at the 25th percentile, the effect still amounted to -18\%, while for the mean it was smaller (-11\%) and not particularly robust. We thus find that the minimum wage can indeed reduce gender wage disparities. While the effect is highest for the low-paid, it also reaches up into higher parts of the wage distribution.}, language = {en} } @techreport{CaliendoTuebbicke2021, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Caliendo, Marco and T{\"u}bbicke, Stefan}, title = {Design and Effectiveness of Start-Up Subsidies}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {30}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-50005}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-500056}, pages = {20}, year = {2021}, abstract = {While a growing body of literature finds positive impacts of Start-Up Subsidies (SUS) on labor market outcomes of participants, little is known about how the design of these programs shapes their effectiveness and hence how to improve policy. As experimental variation in program design is unavailable, we exploit the 2011 reform of the current German SUS program for the unemployed which strengthened case-workers' discretionary power, increased entry requirements and reduced monetary support. We estimate the impact of the reform on the program's effectiveness using samples of participants and non-participants from before and after the reform. To control for time-constant unobserved heterogeneity as well as differential selection patterns based on observable characteristics over time, we combine Difference-in-Differences with inverse probability weighting using covariate balancing propensity scores. Holding participants' observed characteristics as well as macroeconomic conditions constant, the results suggest that the reform was successful in raising employment effects on average. As these findings may be contaminated by changes in selection patterns based on unobserved characteristics, we assess our results using simulation-based sensitivity analyses and find that our estimates are highly robust to changes in unobserved characteristics. Hence, the reform most likely had a positive impact on the effectiveness of the program, suggesting that increasing entry requirements and reducing support in-creased the program's impacts while reducing the cost per participant.}, language = {en} } @techreport{CaliendoCobbClarkObstetal.2020, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Caliendo, Marco and Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. and Obst, Cosima and Uhlendorff, Arne}, title = {Risk Preferences and Training Investments}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {23}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-48092}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-480927}, pages = {35}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We analyze workers' risk preferences and training investments. Our conceptual framework differentiates between the investment risk and insurance mechanisms underpinning training decisions. Investment risk leads risk-averse workers to train less; they undertake more training if it insures them against future losses. We use the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) to demonstrate that risk affinity is associated with more training, implying that, on average, investment risks dominate the insurance benefits of training. Crucially, this relationship is evident only for general training; there is no relationship between risk attitudes and specific training. Thus, as expected, risk preferences matter more when skills are transferable - and workers have a vested interest in training outcomes - than when they are not. Finally, we provide evidence that the insurance benefits of training are concentrated among workers with uncertain employment relationships or limited access to public insurance schemes.}, language = {en} } @techreport{CaliendoMahlstedtvandenBergetal.2020, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Caliendo, Marco and Mahlstedt, Robert and van den Berg, Gerard J. and Vikstr{\"o}m, Johan}, title = {Side Effects of Labor Market Policies}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {22}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-47883}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-478839}, pages = {33}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Labor market policy tools such as training and sanctions are commonly used to help bring workers back to work. By analogy to medical treatments, the individual exposure to these tools may have side effects. We study effects on health using individual-level population registers on labor market events outcomes, drug prescriptions and sickness absence, comparing outcomes before and after exposure to training and sanctions. We find that training improves cardiovascular and mental health and lowers sickness absence. The results suggest that this is not due to improved employment prospects but rather to instantaneous features of participation such as, perhaps, the adoption of a more rigorous daily routine. Unemployment benefits sanctions cause a short-run deterioration of mental health, possibly due higher stress levels, but this tapers out quickly.}, language = {en} }