Productivity and Entrepreneurial Chraracteristics in New Japanese Firms

In this paper, we estimate the production function of new Japanese firms and examine whether the total factor productivity is affected by the human capital and gender of entrepreneurs. Empirical results show decreasing returns to scale of production, which verifies the assumption of production functions in many previous studies on entrepreneurship. Further, it is shown that the entrepreneur's age has a significantly negative effect on productivity, and the negative effect increases after 60 years of age. Although related business experience before startup has a significantly positive effect, the magnitude is limited and cannot overcome the negative effect of age. The results indicate the importance of starting up while young, at the latest, before 60 years of age.