Katharina Grabrucker and Michael Grimm published a paper “Does crime deter South Africans from self-employment?” in the Journal of Comparative Economics. The paper addresses the often heard argument that the very high crime rate in South African cities is the main reason for the country’s small share of business ownership. The authors do not find robust evidence for this hypothesis. Although the effect of crime on entrepreneurship is statistically significant and negative, it is economically very small. There is also no evidence that crime affects sales, business profits and investment of businesses negatively.