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TDPE presents: Dr. Ivan Png

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Dr. Ivan Png on Entrepreneurship and the School of Hard Knocks: Evidence from China’s Great Famine

Dr. Ivan Png, National University of Singapore

We exploit geographical differences in the intensity of China’s Great Famine, 1959-61, as a quasi-natural experiment to identify the effect of hardship on entrepreneurship.  We find robust evidence of more entrepreneurship in counties that experienced greater hardship during the Famine.  The effect of hardship on entrepreneurship is more pronounced in those aged below six at the start of the famine.  We investigate whether the difference is due to selective mortality or adaptation of personality, and find evidence of changes towards greater risk tolerance.  

Dr. Png is a Distinguished Professor at the National University of Singapore, and a visiting professor at Cornell University. His research focuses on the economics of innovation.  Dr. Png was a nominated MP (10th Parliament of Singapore), 2005-06. Previously, he was a faculty member at the Anderson School, UCLA (1985-96). He holds a Ph.D. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Sponsored by Trade Development and Political Economy at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs 


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To mark our centennial in the fall of 2024, the Maxwell School will hold special events and engagement opportunities to celebrate the many ways—across disciplines and borders—our community ever strives to, as the Oath says, “transmit this city not only not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”

Throughout the year leading up to the centennial, engagement opportunities will be held for our diverse, highly accomplished community that now boasts more than 38,500 alumni across the globe.