Himal Gautam monogram
BI Norwegian Business School
Himāl Gautam

Research

My research focuses on entrepreneurial finance, household finance, family firms, and the ownership structures that shape economic mobility and firm outcomes.

Job Market Paper

Enterprising Up the Ladder: Family Origins and Wealth Mobility

2026

Presentations: NFN PhD Workshop (2026), WEFI Fellows Conference (2026), BI Finance Department Research Days (2026)

Enterprising Up the Ladder: Family Origins and Wealth Mobility

Entrepreneurship is often portrayed as a way for individuals to rise beyond their economic circumstances. But does it deliver upward wealth mobility, and if so, for whom? Five years after entry, Norwegian founders stand 5.2 percentile points further above their parents than matched non-founders, and are 13.0 percentage points more likely to reach the top wealth decile. Future founders from poor families already stand further above their parents than their matched peers before entry, but post-entry gains are similar across family origins. People with more wealth of their own are much more likely to start a business, while their parents’ wealth matters far less. Wealth mainly affects who gets to become a founder, not how much they gain afterward.

Working Papers

Entrepreneurs of Circumstance: Labour Market Distress and Entrepreneurship

2023

Presentations: American Finance Association (2024), Nordic Finance Network (2023), World Finance Conference (2023), BI Finance Department Seminar (2022)

SSRN
Entrepreneurs of Circumstance: Labour Market Distress and Entrepreneurship

I study individuals who become entrepreneurs following an industry downturn using the massive decline in oil prices in 2014 to understand the potential of entrepreneurship as an alternative career path for employees affected by industry downturns. The oil price decline resulted in increased entrepreneurial activity among oil workers in Norway. Compared to new entrepreneurs unaffected by the shock, such entrepreneurs of circumstance tend to originate from lower income levels within their respective companies. These entrepreneurs also run more profitable firms, and the profitability difference is unique to the cohort of firms started by employees affected by the shock.

Policy Publications

Work in Progress

Family Wealth and Family Firm Employment

with Janis Berzins, Salvatore Miglietta, and Bogdan Stacescu

Some types of firm ownership may provide more stable employment, but whether family firms are the most likely candidates, especially in a downturn, is still an open question. We model firms' firing and retention decisions and empirically examine the impact of a large negative shock, the COVID-19 pandemic, within the universe of family and nonfamily firms in Norway. We find that family wealth plays a significant role in determining whether family firms are less likely to fire or furlough employees. Unlike insurance-style explanations in the existing literature, firms owned by the poorest as well as the wealthiest families do not provide higher employment protection.

Beautiful CEOs

with Asja Bosnic