What’s the secret to encouraging more start-ups? Apparently, stronger social safety nets. Harvard Business School professor Gareth Olds explains the connection between entrepreneurship and food stamps.

Three Takeaways

• The benefits of food stamps aren’t limited to people enrolled in the program. Just finding out you’re eligible for food stamps makes you more likely to start a business. 
• “Starting a business is extraordinarily risky,” explains Olds. But knowing that you have a safety net makes taking those risks more palatable. And that net goes beyond food stamps. Olds points to links between entrepreneurship and programs like child health insurance, too. 
• Local governments are catching on to Olds’ research. Starting this fall, Maryland will offer opt-in business classes for people enrolled in SNAP. 

• Harvard Magazine’s coverage of Gareth Olds research.
• Sasha Abramsky’s argument for why food stamps matter. 
• The Atlantic jumped on the Gareth Olds train and wrote about entrepreneurship and welfare.