Do M.B.A.s Make Better Entrepreneurs?

It's one thing to learn how to crunch numbers for an investment bank, quite another to start the next Microsoft, Google or even a decent restaurant.....

In the last 10 to 15 years, business schools have massaged their curricula to attract and then train the next generation of Bill Gateses, Sergey Brins and Karan Goels. Along with core classes in accounting and marketing, students now tackle interdisciplinary exercises with macro themes like globalization and environmental sustainability. They even team with engineering schools to learn how to start and run companies, not just maneuver spreadsheets.........

The number of U.S. business-school faculty teaching entrepreneurship classes has exploded, to 349 in 2006 from 12 in 1997, according to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business......

Of the members of Forbes' 400 Wealthiest Americans, approximately two-thirds each year are self-made. How many of those carry M.B.A.s? In 2006, just 15%, down from 17% five years earlier.