The Personal Computer and Entrepreneurship
利用1997-2001年美国当前人口调查数据，发现拥有家用电脑的人在随后12-15个月内成为创业者的可能性显著更高，且这种效应在女性中更明显。
In contrast to the large and rapidly growing literature on information technology (IT) investments and firm productivity, we know very little about the role of personal computers in business creation. Using matched data from the 1997–2001 Computer and Internet Usage Supplements to subsequent Outgoing Rotation Group files from the Current Population Survey (CPS), I explore the relationship between computer ownership and entrepreneurship. Trends over the past two decades provide some evidence of a positive relationship between home computers and entrepreneurship rates, but the evidence is not clear. In contrast, an analysis of the relationship between computer ownership and entrepreneurship at the individual level provides evidence that individuals who had access to a home computer are substantially more likely to become entrepreneurs over the following 12–15 months. Probit and bivariate probit regressions also provide evidence of a strong positive relationship between computer ownership and entrepreneurship among women, but only limited evidence for men. Further, estimates from the CPS indicate that entrepreneurs who had prior access to home computers create a large variety of types of businesses and not only those in the IT industry.