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Entrepreneurial spirits in women and men. The role of financial literacy and digital skills

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Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the attitudes to entrepreneurship of Italian households, focusing on the importance of financial literacy and digital skills as potentially relevant factors shaping entrepreneurship. We put the gender focus to our analysis to detect whether, and to what extent, women and men differ in their propensity to run a business. We carry out our research by using the Bank of Italy SHIW dataset for the years 2008 and 2010. Our findings suggest a strong heterogeneity between men and women in the role played by financial literacy and digital skills. Results show a positive and significant correlation between financial literacy and the probability of being an entrepreneur but only for men. We also find that digitally skilled male respondents are much more likely to be entrepreneurs.

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Notes

  1. The linear probability model is increasingly seen as a suitable alternative to the probit or logit model (Wooldridge 2002).

  2. We find similar results if we exclude retirees from the sample.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Mathematics and Statistics, University of Turin and CeRP, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy

    Noemi Oggero

  2. Department of Management, University of Turin and CeRP, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy

    Maria Cristina Rossi

  3. Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino and BRICK, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy

    Elisa Ughetto

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  1. Noemi Oggero
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  2. Maria Cristina Rossi
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  3. Elisa Ughetto
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Correspondence to Noemi Oggero.

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Oggero, N., Rossi, M.C. & Ughetto, E. Entrepreneurial spirits in women and men. The role of financial literacy and digital skills. Small Bus Econ 55, 313–327 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-019-00299-7

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