1 Introduction
2 Theoretical Framework
2.1 Venture Capital
2.2 Culture
2.3 Individualism
Hypothesis: Individualism is positively related to venture-capital investments.
3 Data and Definition of Variables
Number of countries according to United Nations | 193 |
Number of countries without any venture capital transaction according to Thomson ONE Banker | 45 |
Venture capital sample | 148 |
Number of countries not covered by World Bank or with missing values | 11 |
Number of countries without scores on Individualism | 49 |
Number of countries in final sample | 88 |
3.1 Venture-Capital Investments
3.2 Individualism
3.3 Control Variables
Variable | Description | Data source |
---|---|---|
Venture capital | All investments classified as venture capital including seed, early-stage, expansion, and later-stage investments in Millions of US dollars | Thomson ONE Banker |
Individualism | Country score of individualism-collectivism from 0 to 100. The higher the score, the more individualist the country is | Hofstede |
GDP growth | Annual change in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) lagged by one year | World Bank |
GDP per capita | GDP divided by size of population | World Bank |
Rule of law | Quality of contract enforcement, property rights, police, and courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence | World Governance Indicators |
Exports | Percentage of exports of goods and services to GDP | World Bank |
Population growth | Annual change in population lagged by one year | World Bank |
GDP | Gross Domestic Product in Millions of US dollars | World Bank |
Mean | Median | Min | Max | SD | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Venture capital (M$) | 577 | 4 | 0 | 106,900 | 4299 |
Individualism | 40.2 | 32.5 | 6.0 | 91.0 | 22.9 |
GDP growth (in %) | 3.7 | 3.8 | − 14.8 | 33.7 | 3.9 |
GDP per capita | 16,410 | 7694 | 148 | 116,700 | 19,396 |
Rule of law | 0.33 | 0.17 | − 1.89 | 2.12 | 1.00 |
Exports (in % of GDP) | 43.96 | 34.54 | 7.03 | 230.30 | 33.70 |
Population growth (in %) | 1.2 | 1.1 | − 4.9 | 17.3 | 1.5 |
GDP (M$) | 571,700 | 117,800 | 636 | 17,350,000 | 1,655,279 |
Log venture capital | Individualism | GDP growth | Log GDP per capita | Rule of law | Exports | Population growth | Log GDP | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Log venture capital | 1.00 | 0.59 | − 0.10 | 0.52 | 0.56 | 0.07 | − 0.19 | 0.72 |
Individualism | 0.59 | 1.00 | − 0.23 | 0.62 | 0.73 | 0.04 | − 0.32 | 0.43 |
GDP growth | − 0.10 | − 0.23 | 1.00 | − 0.29 | − 0.24 | 0.02 | 0.18 | − 0.17 |
Log GDP per capita | 0.52 | 0.62 | − 0.29 | 1.00 | 0.80 | 0.36 | − 0.24 | 0.58 |
Rule of law | 0.56 | 0.73 | − 0.24 | 0.80 | 1.00 | 0.35 | − 0.25 | 0.39 |
Exports | 0.07 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.36 | 0.35 | 1.00 | 0.00 | − 0.06 |
Population growth | − 0.19 | − 0.32 | 0.18 | − 0.24 | − 0.25 | 0.00 | 1.00 | − 0.19 |
Log GDP | 0.72 | 0.43 | − 0.17 | 0.58 | 0.39 | − 0.06 | − 0.19 | 1.00 |
4 Methodology and Empirical Results
4.1 Baseline Model
Log venture capital | |||
---|---|---|---|
(I) | (II) | (III) | |
(Intercept) | − 3.53814*** (0.785) | − 7.01906*** (1.060) | − 0.18940 (0.379) |
Individualism | 0.02745*** (0.007) | 0.06617*** (0.009) | |
GDP growth | 0.00187 (0.012) | 0.03139* (0.019) | |
Log GDP per capita | − 0.35381*** (0.127) | − 0.47998*** (0.128) | |
Rule of law | 1.10858*** (0.139) | 0.85768*** (0.163) | |
Exports | 0.00133 (0.003) | 0.00787** (0.003) | |
Population growth | − 0.04141 (0.039) | 0.04807 (0.060) | |
Log GDP | 0.76758*** (0.087) | 1.02060*** (0.098) | |
Years | Included | Included | Excluded |
Number of observations | 2329 | 1496 | 1513 |
R2 | 0.629 | 0.689 | 0.330 |
Adj. R2 | 0.623 | 0.678 | 0.330 |
F-statistic | 177.8*** | 141.6*** | 745.4*** |
4.2 Additional Economic Control Variables
Log venture capital | |||
---|---|---|---|
(I) | (II) | (III) | |
(Intercept) | − 10.75800*** (1.414) | − 10.69656*** (2.959) | − 8.39204*** (2.717) |
Individualism | 0.02573*** (0.007) | 0.03584*** (0.008) | 0.03468*** (0.008) |
GDP growth | 0.03972 (0.025) | 0.02431 (0.023) | 0.00124 (0.027) |
Log GDP per capita | − 0.19447 (0.166) | − 0.51764* (0.311) | − 0.32486 (0.234) |
Rule of law | 0.60865*** (0.199) | 0.34340 (0.248) | 0.48118** (0.224) |
Exports | − 0.02809 (0.019) | 0.00738 (0.005) | − 0.03959* (0.021) |
Population growth | 0.12257 (0.096) | 0.05223 (0.122) | 0.11554 (0.133) |
Unemployment | − 0.02177 (0.022) | − 0.05152** (0.026) | |
Market capitalization/GDP | 0.00111 (0.002) | − 0.00084 (0.002) | |
Foreign direct investments | 0.00651* (0.004) | 0.02994*** (0.011) | |
Trade | 0.01874* (0.010) | 0.02376** (0.011) | |
Real interest rate | 0.01118 (0.008) | 0.00642 (0.010) | |
Inflation | 0.00476** (0.002) | 0.00398** (0.002) | |
Company taxes | − 0.00078 (0.009) | − 0.00957 (0.009) | |
Gini coefficient | 0.02774* (0.016) | 0.02944** (0.014) | |
Tertiary education | 0.01661 (0.012) | 0.01848* (0.010) | |
R&D expenditures | 0.66885*** (0.178) | 0.61531*** (0.188) | |
Life expectancy | 0.03739 (0.051) | − 0.02687 (0.040) | |
Log GDP | 1.12880*** (0.104) | 0.93079*** (0.094) | 1.02823*** (0.101) |
Years | Included | Included | Included |
Number of observations | 1265 | 968 | 924 |
R2 | 0.718 | 0.775 | 0.793 |
Adj. R2 | 0.700 | 0.753 | 0.763 |
F-statistic | 104.7*** | 119.9*** | 103.1*** |
4.3 Language and Religion
Log venture capital | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
(I) | (II) | (III) | (IV) | |
(Intercept) | − 7.43710*** (0.889) | − 7.62491*** (1.042) | − 4.87365*** (1.214) | − 5.49119*** (1.124) |
Individualism | 0.03015*** (0.008) | 0.02961*** (0.007) | 0.02531*** (0.007) | 0.02222*** (0.007) |
Arabic | − 1.18816*** (0.341) | − 1.14841*** (0.338) | ||
Chinese | 2.91646*** (0.483) | 2.97324*** (0.530) | ||
English | 0.43687 (0.329) | 0.41467 (0.338) | ||
French | 0.44153** (0.221) | 0.42266* (0.233) | ||
German | 0.31601 (0.315) | 0.29324 (0.309) | ||
Spanish | − 0.26777 (0.297) | − 0.23718 (0.304) | ||
Linguistic index | 0.20732 (0.539) | |||
Buddhism | − 1.75709*** (0.645) | − 1.88327*** (0.573) | ||
Catholicism | − 1.74969*** (0.626) | − 1.83681*** (0.564) | ||
Islam | − 2.41389*** (0.634) | − 2.44535*** (0.554) | ||
Orthodox Christianity | − 1.32778* (0.711) | − 1.42789** (0.665) | ||
Protestantism | − 1.34466** (0.661) | − 1.67346*** (0.601) | ||
Religious index | 1.28718*** (0.414) | |||
Control variables | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Years | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Number of observations | 1496 | 1496 | 1496 | 1496 |
R2 | 0.732 | 0.733 | 0.726 | 0.736 |
Adj. R2 | 0.717 | 0.718 | 0.712 | 0.721 |
F-statistic | 133.5*** | 129.9*** | 138.9*** | 141.1*** |
4.4 Formal Institutional Environment
Log venture capital | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
(I) | (II) | (III) | (IV) | |
(Intercept) | − 7.63083*** (0.961) | − 7.88012*** (1.190) | − 6.72105*** (1.139) | − 7.70588*** (1.099) |
Individualism | 0.02525*** (0.007) | 0.02237*** (0.007) | 0.02649*** (0.007) | 0.02205*** (0.007) |
Common law | 0.62577 (0.513) | − 0.16911 (0.574) | ||
French civil law | 0.12404 (0.447) | − 0.31915 (0.461) | ||
German civil law | 0.30476 (0.372) | − 0.27220 (0.396) | ||
Nordic civil law | 0.88370** (0.346) | − 0.13664 (0.444) | ||
Socialist | 0.57516 (0.808) | − 0.08343 (0.870) | ||
Strength of legal rights index | 0.12141*** (0.045) | 0.10618* (0.058) | ||
Economic freedom overall score | − 0.01371 (0.014) | − 0.01164 (0.016) | ||
Corruption perceptions index | 0.03021*** (0.012) | 0.02938** (0.013) | ||
Worldwide governance indicator | 1.10914*** (0.219) | |||
GDP growth | 0.02703 (0.019) | 0.02522 (0.019) | 0.02960 (0.019) | 0.02489 (0.018) |
Log GDP per capita | − 0.40848*** (0.158) | − 0.46477*** (0.143) | − 0.58240*** (0.147) | − 0.45364*** (0.169) |
Rule of law | 0.73436*** (0.171) | 0.29782 (0.256) | 0.28182 (0.276) | |
Exports | 0.00744** (0.003) | 0.00615** (0.003) | 0.00800*** (0.003) | 0.00599* (0.003) |
Population growth | 0.02030 (0.057) | 0.04419 (0.060) | 0.07727 (0.063) | 0.03537 (0.053) |
Log GDP | 1.00777*** (0.114) | 1.01341*** (0.099) | 1.06272*** (0.101) | 1.01469*** (0.118) |
Years | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Number of observations | 1496 | 1496 | 1496 | 1496 |
R2 | 0.696 | 0.706 | 0.693 | 0.707 |
Adj. R2 | 0.683 | 0.694 | 0.682 | 0.692 |
F-statistic | 120.2*** | 135.9*** | 144.7*** | 113.9*** |
4.5 Cultural Dimensions
Log venture capital | |||
---|---|---|---|
(I) | (II) | (III) | |
(Intercept) | − 5.98180*** (1.136) | − 7.54792*** (1.343) | − 7.89877*** (1.140) |
Individualism | 0.01908*** (0.007) | 0.01992*** (0.007) | 0.02624*** (0.007) |
Power distance | − 0.01102 (0.010) | 0.00091 (0.009) | |
Uncertainty avoidance | − 0.01676*** (0.006) | − 0.02034*** (0.006) | |
Masculinity | − 0.00666 (0.004) | − 0.00948** (0.005) | |
Long-term orientation | 0.01055* (0.006) | ||
Indulgence | 0.00620 (0.005) | ||
Trust | 0.00745 (0.005) | ||
GDP growth | 0.01569 (0.016) | 0.01653 (0.017) | 0.03290* (0.019) |
Log GDP per capita | − 0.29877** (0.118) | − 0.28464* (0.160) | − 0.44181*** (0.146) |
Rule of law | 0.54225*** (0.183) | 0.65642*** (0.179) | 0.76272*** (0.180) |
Exports | 0.00569** (0.003) | 0.00370 (0.003) | 0.00851*** (0.003) |
Population growth | 0.01626 (0.057) | − 0.04399 (0.101) | 0.10302 (0.093) |
Log GDP | 1.03806*** (0.096) | 1.05668*** (0.097) | 1.03192*** (0.083) |
Years | Included | Included | Included |
Number of observations | 1496 | 1258 | 1411 |
R2 | 0.709 | 0.735 | 0.703 |
Adj. R2 | 0.696 | 0.718 | 0.691 |
F-statistic | 137.4*** | 121.8*** | 137.0*** |
4.6 Geographic Conditions
4.7 Moderating and Mediating Effects
Log venture capital | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
(I) | (II) | (III) | (IV) | |
Individualism | 0.01699** (0.007) | 0.01742** (0.009) | 0.02333*** (0.008) | 0.02514*** (0.008) |
Individualism × GDP per capita high | 0.02608*** (0.009) | |||
Individualism × GDP per capita low | 0.00930 (0.023) | |||
Individualism × rule of law high | 0.02150 (0.014) | |||
Individualism × rule of law low | 0.01278 (0.017) | |||
Individualism × uncertainty avoidance high | 0.00079 (0.009) | |||
Individualism × uncertainty avoidance low | 0.00775 (0.012) | |||
Individualism × trust high | 0.00768 (0.012) | |||
Individualism × trust low | − 0.01252 (0.022) | |||
GDP per capita high | − 0.86900* (0.526) | |||
GDP per capita low | 0.13205 (0.596) | |||
Rule of law high | − 0.72311 (0.814) | |||
Rule of law low | − 0.10587 (0.580) | |||
Uncertainty avoidance high | − 0.03464 (0.434) | |||
Uncertainty avoidance low | 0.14653 (0.692) | |||
Trust high | − 0.23462 (0.720) | |||
Trust low | − 0.01527 (0.658) | |||
Controls | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Number of observations | 1496 | 1496 | 1496 | 1411 |
R2 | 0.702 | 0.697 | 0.694 | 0.703 |
Adj. R2 | 0.696 | 0.691 | 0.689 | 0.697 |
F-statistic | 127.8*** | 124.9*** | 123.6*** | 121.4*** |
Mediator | First equation | Second equation | Third equation | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dependent variable = mediator | Dependent variable = log venture capital | Dependent variable = log venture capital | ||||
Independent variable = individualism | Independent variable = individualism | Causal variable = individualism | Mediator | Indirect effect | Bootstrap results CI lower/upper | |
GDP per capita* | 0.00295 (0.004) | 0.02604*** (0.007) | 0.02745*** (0.007) | − 0.47998*** (0.128) | − 0.00135 | [− 0.00562, 0.00223] |
Rule of law* | 0.01739*** (0.003) | 0.04236*** (0.007) | 0.02745*** (0.007) | 0.85768*** (0.163) | 0.01496 | [0.00822, 0.02295] |
Uncertainty avoidance | − 0.38282*** (0.122) | 0.02745*** (0.007) | 0.02013*** (0.007) | − 0.01914*** (0.005) | 0.00754 | [0.00184, 0.01431] |
Trust | 0.01428 (0.163) | 0.02643*** (0.007) | 0.02624*** (0.007) | 0.00745 (0.005) | 0.00004 | [− 0.00305, 0.00351] |
*Control variables from baseline model | Included | Included | Included |
4.8 Addressing Endogeneity with an Instrumental-Variable Approach: Polity Score
First stage | Reduced-form | Second stage | |
---|---|---|---|
Individualism | Log venture capital | Log venture capital | |
(Intercept) | − 33.56959 (34.570) | − 5.05627** (2.290) | − 8.02994*** (1.084) |
Individualism | 0.06314*** (0.014) | ||
Polity score | 0.92692** (0.453) | 0.05431 (0.038) | |
GDP growth | − 0.63791** (0.316) | 0.03227*** (0.010) | 0.07655*** (0.021) |
Log GDP per capita | 3.64810 (4.519) | − 0.85684*** (0.323) | − 0.54561*** (0.139) |
Rule of law | 9.34809** (4.354) | 1.20739*** (0.305) | 0.19600 (0.197) |
Exports | 0.06923 (0.089) | 0.01221** (0.005) | 0.00801*** (0.003) |
Population growth | − 3.35639 (2.147) | 0.02828 (0.105) | − 0.03377 (0.074) |
Log GDP | 3.85676** (1.504) | 1.23560*** (0.138) | 1.04341*** (0.066) |
Years | Included | Included | Included |
Number of observations | 782 | 901 | 782 |
R2 | 0.677 | 0.747 | 0.725 |
Adj. R2 | 0.656 | 0.728 | 0.703 |
F-statistic | 68.9*** | 112.8*** | 83.9*** |
4.9 Robustness Checks
Venture capital/GDP | Log number of transactions/Population | Log seed | Venture capital (1 = yes, 0 = no) | Log venture capital | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(I) | (II) | (III) | (IV) | (V) | (VI) | |
(Intercept) | 0.75387 (2.060) | − 15.60228** (6.131) | − 3.53514*** (0.780) | − 7.25890*** (0.794) | − 11.44728*** (0.684) | |
Individualism | 0.01292** (0.005) | 0.11275** (0.047) | 0.01979*** (0.006) | 0.03253*** (0.005) | 0.03264*** (0.004) | 0.02963*** (0.008) |
GDP growth | 0.03270* (0.020) | 0.17366** (0.071) | 0.03624** (0.015) | 0.03461* (0.020) | 0.07675*** (0.018) | 0.00226 (0.011) |
Log GDP per capita | − 0.08940 (0.106) | 0.57317 (0.603) | − 0.25066*** (0.091) | − 0.49227*** (0.093) | − 0.57340*** (0.081) | − 0.37749*** (0.128) |
Rule of law | 0.09269 (0.067) | 2.58318*** (0.935) | 0.45750*** (0.127) | 0.88541*** (0.148) | 1.13345*** (0.121) | 0.70231*** (0.160) |
Exports | 0.00572*** (0.002) | − 0.00326 (0.018) | − 0.00178 (0.003) | 0.01365*** (0.003) | 0.01372*** (0.002) | 0.00187 (0.003) |
Population growth | 0.08677 (0.061) | 0.64431 (0.459) | 0.05886 (0.049) | − 0.10837** (0.044) | − 0.05665 (0.041) | 0.05137** (0.026) |
Log GDP | 0.02549 (0.058) | 0.55184 (0.515) | 0.45938*** (0.085) | 0.90507*** (0.061) | 1.37201*** (0.042) | 0.95623*** (0.101) |
Years | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Number of observations | 1496 | 1496 | 1496 | 1496 | 1496 | 1496 |
Model | OLS | OLS | OLS | Logit | Tobit | Random effects |
R2 | 0.033 | 0.360 | 0.530 | – | – | 0.236 |
Adj. R2 | 0.033 | 0.354 | 0.521 | – | – | 0.232 |
F-statistic | 2.2*** | 35.9*** | 72.1*** | – | – | 19.7*** |
Log venture capital | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(I) | (II) | (III) | (IV) | (V) | (VI) | (VII) | |
(Intercept) | − 13.60132*** (3.069) | − 10.27209*** (3.949) | − 2.99220 (3.758) | − 3.81374 (3.230) | − 1.87632** (0.921) | − 6.71047*** (1.046) | − 6.67008*** (1.024) |
Individualism | 0.02605*** (0.010) | 0.02716* (0.014) | 0.01605 (0.016) | 0.04349* (0.023) | 0.02310*** 0.00683 | 0.02521*** (0.007) | 0.02996*** (0.007) |
GDP growth | 0.02839 (0.030) | − 0.00947 (0.011) | 0.07512* (0.041) | − 0.00381 (0.046) | 0.00986 (0.018) | 0.03060 (0.020) | 0.01413 (0.013) |
Log GDP per capita | 0.06279 (0.386) | 0.00149 (0.439) | − 0.94232* (0.499) | − 0.70459 (0.445) | 0.10941 (0.305) | − 0.46474*** (0.130) | − 0.42788*** (0.127) |
Rule of law | 0.65560 (0.548) | 0.12469 (0.635) | 0.64776** (0.273) | 0.19598 (0.317) | − 0.22678 (0.252) | 0.86128*** (0.164) | 0.82887*** (0.166) |
Exports | 0.00271 (0.006) | 0.01945*** (0.007) | 0.00410 (0.007) | 0.01174 (0.013) | − 0.00315 (0.006) | 0.00821*** (0.003) | 0.00752** (0.003) |
Population growth | 0.49710 (0.337) | − 0.11772 (0.072) | − 0.15696 (0.138) | 0.09441 (0.146) | − 0.10778** (0.046) | 0.03674 (0.057) | 0.06996 (0.062) |
Log GDP | 1.10375*** (0.137) | 0.94392*** (0.261) | 1.08769*** (0.203) | 0.76662*** (0.214) | 0.11245 (0.096) | 0.98772*** (0.100) | 0.94609*** (0.087) |
Years | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Subset | High income: OECD | High income: non-OECD | Upper middle income | Lower middle income | Low income | w/o US | w/o China |
Number of observations | 544 | 238 | 306 | 323 | 85 | 1479 | 1479 |
R2 | 0.745 | 0.587 | 0.588 | 0.423 | 0.184 | 0.660 | 0.689 |
Adj. R2 | 0.712 | 0.528 | 0.542 | 0.392 | 0.132 | 0.649 | 0.678 |
F-statistic | 66.1*** | 13.2*** | 17.5*** | 9.5*** | 0.6 | 122.8*** | 140.2*** |