The Salience of Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Online Business

Abstract：    

This paper explores psychological biases underlying the decision to become an entrepreneur in the online business context. Using entrepreneurs affiliated with Taobao Marketplace, the world’s largest online shopping platform, as the sample, the authors find that people who observe the emergence of successful stores in their neighborhood are more likely to become online entrepreneurs. Relying on the Taobao store rating system and detailed geographical information for identification, we find that in rural areas of China, an increase in the online rating (upgrade event) of a store leads to a significant increase in the number of new stores within a 0.5-km radius. This effect increases with the magnitude of the upgrade event, decreases with physical distance from the focal store and is robust to a wide range of rigorous model specifications. The results lend support to salience theories of choice and cannot be fully explained by rational learning or other regional confounders.

Speaker Biography： 

黄毅教授现为复旦大学金融学教授、泛海国际金融学院宏观金融研究中心研究员。

黄毅教授2013年至2021年曾任瑞士日内瓦高级国际关系及发展学院Pictet Chair in Finance and Development。黄教授还曾任国际货币基金组织研究部经济学家，达拉斯联邦储备银行全球化与货币政策中心兼职研究员。他曾为美国加州伯克利大学经济系访问学者，香港金管局金融研究中心访问研究员。世界经济论坛（World Economic Forum)全球议程理事会成员。 

黄教授的研究包括国际经济学和金融、金融经济学和新兴市场经济体。他对全球化背景下金融行为和经济发展的决定因素尤为感兴趣。他近期主要研究公司的融资投资行为对金融市场和劳动力市场的影响。黄教授的研究兴趣包括国际经济学，金融经济学以及新兴市场经济体。黄教授于伦敦商学院获得博士学位。