Title: Enrolment in education and entrepreneurship in Latin America: a multi-country study

Authors: Alfredo Jimenez; Rafael Fabricio Matos; Carmen Palmero-Cámara; David Ragland

Addresses: Department of Management, Kedge Business School, 680 cours de la Liberation, Talence 33405 France ' Department of Business Management, University of Burgos, C/Parralillos s/n 09003 Burgos, Spain ' Department of Educational Sciences, University of Burgos, C/Parralillos s/n 09003 Burgos, Spain ' Salesforce Inc., 1 Market 300, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA

Abstract: This paper studies the role of enrolment rates at different educational levels on entrepreneurship in Latin America. We analyse a sample of nine countries in the region from 2000 to 2007 using panel data techniques. Our results show that the creation of new firms increases when enrolment rates in secondary education are higher as a consequence of higher qualifications that lead to better evaluation and exploitation of business opportunities. Conversely, the creation of new firms is lower when enrolment rates in higher education are greater. This situation is a consequence of the signal that higher education transmits to the labour market, which reduces informational asymmetry and perceptions of adverse selection and, therefore, increases employers' trust.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; enrolment in education; signalling theory; information asymmetry; adverse selection; Latin America.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2017.083881

European Journal of International Management, 2017 Vol.11 No.3, pp.347 - 364

Received: 15 Jan 2016
Accepted: 27 Sep 2016

Published online: 25 Apr 2017 *

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