Who Chooses to Become an Entrepreneur? The Jacks-of-all-Trades in Social and Human Capital

This paper studies the willingness to become an entrepreneur depending on an individual’s composition of human and social capital. Our theoretical analysis is an application and extension of Lazear’s (2005) jack-of-all-trades theory. Our primary implication is that it is not individuals with a higher level of human or social capital but rather individuals with a more balanced portfolio of human and social capital that are more willing than others to become entrepreneurs. We use survey data from a sample of more than 2000 German students to test this hypothesis and find that the jacks-of-all-trades, i.e. the more balanced individuals are more likely to become entrepreneurs. On the other hand, the masters-in-one, i.e. the specialists, are better off being an employee and rightly prefer to be so.