Article 2020

The medium-term impact of entrepreneurship education on labor market outcomes: Experimental evidence from university graduates in Tunisia

Labour Economics
Journal · Vol. 62 · Art. 101787
Abstract

Despite the widespread popularity of entrepreneurship education, there is thin evidence on its effectiveness in improving employment outcomes over the medium to long-term. A potential time lag between entrepreneurial intentions and actions is sometimes presented as a reason why employment impacts are rarely observed. Based on a randomized control trial among university students in Tunisia, this paper studies the medium-term impacts of entrepreneurship education four years after students’ graduation. The paper complements earlier evidence that documented small short-term impacts on entry into self-employment and aspirations toward the future one year after graduation. The medium-term results show that the impacts of entrepreneurship education were short-lived. The intervention led to a temporary increase in business ideas and in nascent entrepreneurship. However, there is no sustained impact on self-employment or employment outcomes four years after graduation. The intervention induced some lasting impacts on business knowledge, but not on business networks. A large share of graduates reports financial constraints as the most prevailing barrier to entrepreneurship. © 2019

Keywords

Author Keywords

Entrepreneurship education Skills Training self-employment Field experiment Randomized control trial

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
The World Bank, USA, Washington, D.C., United States, ETH Zürich, Zurich, ZH, Switzerland
The World Bank, USA, Washington, D.C., United States
Funding & Acknowledgements
Grant: TF092477
The study was made possible by a joint effort between the World Bank and the government of Tunisia. We are grateful to a team of researchers at the National Observatory for Employment and Skills (Observatoire Nationale d'Emploi et des Qualifications, ONEQ) who worked on the follow-up survey phase and contributed to the impact evaluation policy report under the overall guidance of Fakher Zaibi. We also thank Marwen Hkiri and Zied Ouelhazi for efficient supervision during data collection. We are grateful to Kamel Braham, Lucia Hanmer, Murat Kirdar, David McKenzie, Alexandria Valerio, anonymous referees and the editor for helpful comments. We are indebted to Rita Almeida and Rebekka Grun, who initiated the study on which this medium-term follow-up is based, as well as Mahdi Barouni and Lucas Etter, who contributed to the short-term follow-up phase. We acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Impact Evaluation Trust Fund (TF096014) and the Gender Action Plan (TF092477) at the World Bank for the baseline and first follow-up survey, as well as from the Women Leadership in SME Trust Fund (TF013788) at the World Bank for the medium-term follow-up survey. All findings, interpretations, and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank or the government of Tunisia.
Grant: TF096014
The study was made possible by a joint effort between the World Bank and the government of Tunisia. We are grateful to a team of researchers at the National Observatory for Employment and Skills (Observatoire Nationale d'Emploi et des Qualifications, ONEQ) who worked on the follow-up survey phase and contributed to the impact evaluation policy report under the overall guidance of Fakher Zaibi. We also thank Marwen Hkiri and Zied Ouelhazi for efficient supervision during data collection. We are grateful to Kamel Braham, Lucia Hanmer, Murat Kirdar, David McKenzie, Alexandria Valerio, anonymous referees and the editor for helpful comments. We are indebted to Rita Almeida and Rebekka Grun, who initiated the study on which this medium-term follow-up is based, as well as Mahdi Barouni and Lucas Etter, who contributed to the short-term follow-up phase. We acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Impact Evaluation Trust Fund (TF096014) and the Gender Action Plan (TF092477) at the World Bank for the baseline and first follow-up survey, as well as from the Women Leadership in SME Trust Fund (TF013788) at the World Bank for the medium-term follow-up survey. All findings, interpretations, and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank or the government of Tunisia.
Grant: TF013788
The study was made possible by a joint effort between the World Bank and the government of Tunisia. We are grateful to a team of researchers at the National Observatory for Employment and Skills (Observatoire Nationale d'Emploi et des Qualifications, ONEQ) who worked on the follow-up survey phase and contributed to the impact evaluation policy report under the overall guidance of Fakher Zaibi. We also thank Marwen Hkiri and Zied Ouelhazi for efficient supervision during data collection. We are grateful to Kamel Braham, Lucia Hanmer, Murat Kirdar, David McKenzie, Alexandria Valerio, anonymous referees and the editor for helpful comments. We are indebted to Rita Almeida and Rebekka Grun, who initiated the study on which this medium-term follow-up is based, as well as Mahdi Barouni and Lucas Etter, who contributed to the short-term follow-up phase. We acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Impact Evaluation Trust Fund (TF096014) and the Gender Action Plan (TF092477) at the World Bank for the baseline and first follow-up survey, as well as from the Women Leadership in SME Trust Fund (TF013788) at the World Bank for the medium-term follow-up survey. All findings, interpretations, and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank or the government of Tunisia.
World Bank Group, WBG
The study was made possible by a joint effort between the World Bank and the government of Tunisia. We are grateful to a team of researchers at the National Observatory for Employment and Skills (Observatoire Nationale d'Emploi et des Qualifications, ONEQ) who worked on the follow-up survey phase and contributed to the impact evaluation policy report under the overall guidance of Fakher Zaibi. We also thank Marwen Hkiri and Zied Ouelhazi for efficient supervision during data collection. We are grateful to Kamel Braham, Lucia Hanmer, Murat Kirdar, David McKenzie, Alexandria Valerio, anonymous referees and the editor for helpful comments. We are indebted to Rita Almeida and Rebekka Grun, who initiated the study on which this medium-term follow-up is based, as well as Mahdi Barouni and Lucas Etter, who contributed to the short-term follow-up phase. We acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Impact Evaluation Trust Fund (TF096014) and the Gender Action Plan (TF092477) at the World Bank for the baseline and first follow-up survey, as well as from the Women Leadership in SME Trust Fund (TF013788) at the World Bank for the medium-term follow-up survey. All findings, interpretations, and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank or the government of Tunisia.
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