Knowledge that Transforms

We compare evaluations of employee performance by individuals and groups of supervisors, analyzing a formal model and running a laboratory experiment. The model predicts that multirater evaluations are more precise than single-rater evaluations if groups rationally aggregate their signals about employee performance. Our controlled laboratory experiment confirms this prediction and finds evidence that this can indeed be attributed to accurate information processing in the group. Moreover, when employee compensation depends on evaluations, multirater evaluations tend to be associated with higher performance.

Using full-population data from Finland, we show that individuals at the top of the income distribution are significantly more likely to start new incorporated businesses. High-income earners also establish more successful and productive businesses than others. In contrast, parental income is not linked with selection into new entrepreneurship or firm-level outcomes. We find that income gains from entrepreneurship are rather similar across individual and parental characteristics, and that entrepreneurship is associated with upward income mobility regardless of initial income levels. Overall, our findings suggest that entrepreneurship can serve as an upward economic ladder for individuals from diverse backgrounds.