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Vera Rocha

Professor

Subjects
Entrepreneurship Startup Quantitative methods Job market Inclusion

Primary research areas

Entrepreneurship

I study entrepreneurship as a career and as a setting, often using employer-employee linked data – for example, why and how people launch and grow ventures, how startups emerge and grow, and how entrepreneurship shapes individual careers and broader society.

Human Capital

I explore how founders and new hires shape organizational success. In particular, I analyze individual mobility across firms and occupations, how organizations hire, and how different types of human capital explain differences in labor market outcomes and firm performance.

Inequality

My research sheds light on how career transitions and organizational practices emerge and how they can create or reduce inequalities in the labor market. Among other aspects, I am broadly interested in gender and migration.

My research addresses inequality in workplaces, careers, and entrepreneurship.

I study how entrepreneurship and organizations shape careers, opportunities, and inequality. My work highlights how new ventures influence and respond to labor market dynamics, how founders’ choices affect venture success, and how hiring practices can widen or narrow social divides. 

I focus on various relevant questions: 

How startups create or limit opportunities for individuals. 

How different types of human capital help organizations thrive. 

How organizational practices widen or prevent inequality within workplaces and broader society. 

I seek to understand how people and organizations create opportunities together. Using country-level employer-employee linked data and rigorous empirical designs, I uncover patterns that help policymakers, founders, and managers design fairer and more effective practices. 

My ambition is to build knowledge that fosters inclusive, innovative, and equitable economies where entrepreneurship becomes a driver of opportunity rather than inequality. 

Recent research projects

Multilevel Pathways for Integrating Marginalized Groups (PAINT)

How can entrepreneurship, firms and communities help refugees & people with criminal records in rejoining work? This project uncovers strategies to reduce inequality and foster inclusive labor markets
https://www.carlsbergfondet.dk/en/what-we-have-funded/CF21-0156