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Can Culture Account for Investment Expectations?
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Edité par HAL CCSD ; Newfound Press
International audience. Until recently, risk-taking in investment decisions has been explained bycognitive biases and emotional urges. I would like to propose an alternativeexplanation, based on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, who links cultural capital torisk-taking. His concept of cultural capital has a very broad meaning, as itencompasses technical skills, aesthetic preferences, verbal facility, general culturalawareness, educational credentials, and artistic competencies. On theoreticalgrounds, one can assume that a high level of cultural capital enables the taming ofuncertainty and allows for temporal horizons that cover longer terms. I test thishypothesis by conducting and analyzing a survey of 307 entrepreneurs. I define risktakingin two ways: (i) in a somewhat mainstream way, on the basis of expectedutility, and (ii) in a heterodox way, in a qualitative, context-dependent setting. Ifind that, in both cases, there seems to be a link between cultural capital and risktaking.Furthermore, it seems to make financing issues more salient. I conclude byopening a discussion about the heterogeneity of entrepreneurs and their animalspirits.