Does an additional year of formal education affect the decision to become an entrepreneur? Using human capital theory as a conceptual lens, we explore three channels through which it might: productivity, certification, and health impacts. To test the mechanisms and uncover whether there are causal relationships between these variables, we exploit two exogenous changes to British compulsory schooling laws that generated sharp across-cohort differences in years of education. Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, we estimate that the reforms significantly reduced self-employment. We go on to explore which channels best explain this finding, and discuss implications for scholars and policymakers. • A Regression Discontinuity Design is used to obtain causal estimates of the relationship between high school education and adult entrepreneurship. • The study exploits as a natural experiment legal reforms to the national minimum school leaving age in Britain. • Estimates indicate a negative relationship between an additional year of schooling and engagement in self-employment. • The findings cast doubt on the notion that the additional schooling affected self-employment through productivity or credentialing channels. • Policy implications might be most applicable to developing countries where governments are exploring whether to raise school leaving ages.

Entrepreneurs' funding pitches are inherently multimodal, conveying affective content through both verbal (words) and vocal (prosodic intonation) channels. Integrating theory of cross-channel consistency with the two-dimensional model of affect, we theorize that funding performance improves when entrepreneurs' verbal and vocal expressions are affectively consistent in terms of valence and arousal, as such consistency enhances perceptions of their preparedness and authenticity. Using a mixed-methods design, we first analyze over 500 crowdfunding pitch videos with computer-aided text and audio analysis to quantify cross-channel affective consistency (CCAC) and assess its impact on funding performance via perceived preparedness and authenticity. Results show that CCAC—particularly in arousal and the joint alignment of valence and arousal—predicts funding performance. While CCAC increased both perceived preparedness and authenticity, only preparedness further predicted funding performance. A complementary inductive study further revealed distinct manifestations of CCAC (i.e., warmth, enthusiasm, seriousness, and sadness) and inconsistency (i.e., monotone, low-arousal delivery, high-arousal delivery, and humor/dramatization). Notably, consistent sadness decreased funding performance, and one form of inconsistency—high-arousal vocal delivery paired with relatively ordinary, low-arousal language—increased funding performance. Overall, this work advances research on entrepreneurial rhetoric by providing a generalizable framework for multimodal affective expression, highlighting the persuasive value of CCAC, and illuminating the mechanisms through which CCAC shapes funding performance. • Introduce “cross-channel affective consistency” (CCAC) • We analyze CCAC between vocal and verbal expressions in terms of valence and arousal. • CCAC positively enhances funding performance via perceived preparedness. • Perceived authenticity increases with CCAC but doesn't predict funding. • We reveal four types of high and low vocal-verbal CCAC, respectively, in entrepreneurial pitches.