Does the height to entrepreneurship nexus have two stages? New evidence from 27 nations

Abstract

We examine the association between height and entrepreneurship in 27 nations, finding that the relationship between height and entrepreneurship can be considered to be a two-stage process. During the first stage, individuals make the decision of whether or not to try to set up their own business. At this stage, the effect of height is stronger: each 10-cm increase in height is associated with an approximately 1.4 percentage point increase in the probability of having tried to set up a business. During the second stage, after a positive decision to embark upon entrepreneurship has already been taken, people may find success in setting up their business. At this stage, although taller individuals are still more likely to experience success than their shorter counterparts, the effect of height becomes much weaker. Each 10-cm increase in height is associated with an approximately 0.4 percentage point increase in the probability of having tried to set up a business without success, and an approximately 0.4 percentage point increase in the likelihood of having set up a business in which the respondent is no longer involved, or that is no longer operational. Finally, each 10-cm increase in height is associated with an approximately 1 percentage point increase in the probability of remaining an entrepreneur. At the same time, we found that the effect of height is stronger in magnitude than the effects of gender, health and university education. This finding is remarkable insofar as gender, health and university education are usually considered to be the main determinants of entrepreneurship.