What the numbers tell: the impact of human, family, and financial capital on female and male engagement in entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship contributes to economic development in all economies around the world. Entrepreneurial activity is beneficial for both men and women, including those in developing countries. However, entry into entrepreneurship may not be available to men and women equally because of differential access to capital. This study examines the relative importance of three forms of capital- human, family, and financial- in pursuing entrepreneurship. Using data collected in Turkey, we show that regardless of sex, all three forms of capital influence the decision of becoming an entrepreneur in varying degrees. But, when gender differences are observed, it becomes clear that contrary to the expectation the impact of human capital on entry into entrepreneurship is higher for women than men. It is observed that family capital becomes a differentiation factor for women in becoming entrepreneur only when the family size is seven or more that is also against the expectations. There are no gender differences in terms of the impact of financial capital on entrepreneurial entry. Our findings suggest that policy makers in Turkey wants to have more entrepreneurs, policies should be directed to offer basic education and financial capital, but if the goal is to increase the number of women entrepreneurs, certainly policies should direct to educate women beyond the primarily education and help women in large families.