Previous studies have underscored the economic importance of the role of the entrepreneur, and empirical studies testing the nature of the entrepreneur are notably lacking. This study directly addresses this issue by examining newly gathered field data which captures the decision making and risk behaviors for a group of high-technology entrepreneurs. Two decision making tasks were used to elicit risk aversion measures and to test for any 'joy of winning' or judgmental errors, possibly in the form of over optimistic behavior. These elicitations were made with the use of multiple price formats and winner's curse experiments. 62 responses were collected from subjects at the 2004 national Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) conference in Atlanta, March 2004. From these 62 responses a subject pool of 33 entrepreneurs and 29 non-entrepreneurs were identified. Statistical methods were employed to assign risk aversion measures and identify any 'joy of winning' or judgmental errors for the entrepreneur (treatment) group compared with the non-entrepreneur (control) group. Findings show that entrepreneurs exhibit less risk aversion, but show no statistically meaningful difference in judgmental errors compared to their non-entrepreneur counterparts. However, there is evidence to support the claim that both entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs exhibit a 'joy of winning', and that the size of the effect is larger for entrepreneurs.

Understanding the behavior of those who start--or intend to start--a business is vital for a country of entrepreneurs such as Peru, which registered the third highest rate of active entrepreneurship worldwide in 2011, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). However, Peru also registered, in 2011, one of the highest business discontinuation rates among efficiency-based and resource-based economies. This study represents the first effort to analyze certain behavioral characteristics (risk aversion, joy of winning, overconfidence and tax collection) of a sample of necessity-driven entrepreneurs in Lima, Peru. These features might help explain, in the first place, the decision to become entrepreneurs, but also the decision to leave the market. In particular, wefind that entrepreneurs are risk averse, tend to overestimate their abilities and are willing to work harder when the gross pay is higher (and are taxed) than when it is lower (and are not taxed). Altogether, these traits may explain the high discontinuation rate of businesses in Peru, one of the highest in efficiency-based and resource-based economies. / Entender el comportamiento de aquellos que empiezan —o pretenden empezar— un negocio es vital para un país de emprendedores así como el Perú, el cual registró la tercera tasa más alta de emprededeurismo activo a nivel mundial en 2011, de acuerdo con el Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). Sin embargo, el Perú también registró, el año 2011, una de las tasas más altas de descontinuación de negocios entre las economías basadas en la eficiencias y recursos. Este estudio representa el primer intento en analizar ciertas características de conducta (aversión al riesgo, alegría por el triunfo, confianza excesiva y el pago de impuestos) de una muestra de emprendedoresmotivados por la necesidad en Lima, Perú. Estas características puede que ayuden a explicar, en primer lugar, la decisión de devenir emprendedores, pero también la decisión de dejar el mercado. En particular, nos encontramos con que los emprendedores son adversos al riesgo, tienden a sobrestimar sus habilidades y están dispuestos a trabajar más duro cuando el pago bruto es mayor (y está sujeto a impuestos) que cuando es menor (y no está sujeto a impuestos). En suma, estas características pueden explicar la alta tasa de descontinuación de negocios en el Perú, una de las más altas en economías basadas en la eficiencia o en recursos.