The Effects of Education on Business Ownership: A Longitudinal Study of Women

Abstract

This study uses a national longitudinal sample of women to examine variations in the likelihood of entering, staying, and reentering self-employment by level of educational attainment. The study found that each likelihood increased with increasing levels of education. This finding supports the notion that less-educated women may face financial or human capital constraints which limit their business pursuits. The study also identified to what extent differences in each likelihood contributed to the overall difference in the likelihood of being self-employed between more- and less-educated women. Of the three, differences in the likelihood of entry accounted for most of the overall difference in the likelihood of being self-employed between the more and less educated.